Yasha-HebiHime's collection of unfinished plots!
by Yasha-HebiHime
Summary: A collection of stories written over the years, mostly revolving around Naruto, that remained unfinished and at a rather low amount of chapters. Lots of Ranma cross overs, and I'm looking to see if any of my ideas spark ideas in other people! Or if people enjoy one idea so much that they want me to continue it. It's a lack of interest that keeps me from writing them on the side!
1. A Heart Swap Ch1&2

_**Hey there everyone! Welcome to the first "story" in my collection of forgotten plots. I've decided to upload unfinished stories, as mentioned in my "Tales of the Kunoichi" chapter 18, or 19 if you count the extra chapter. But anyways, these are all unfinished ideas I wrote a long time ago. Most of them are from at least a year ago, at minimum, although I have a few I've written the year this is going up. Doesn't mean they have too much to 'em, but hey, the idea is there.**_

 _ **Anyways, the main idea is not only to potentially inspire people with my little plots, and please tell me if it does!, but also to see if anyone is interested in me writing out one of them on the side. A majority of these stories have plot lines I've written down somewhere, so the original "idea" won't change too much, but I simply lost the drive to really complete them back then. With a majority of my writing focus on "Tales of a Kunoichi", the updates on a secondary story will probably be rather slow... But anyways!**_

 _ **Since this is going to be under a "Naruto" label, I decided to start us off with an old Naruto/Ranma ½ cross over. Classic me, huh? But it's a bit... different than what "Tales of" is doing. You'll need to know more about Ranma ½ than that one, too. But anyways! Let's see what people think of..!**_

A Heart Swap – Hyuuga Ranma

Even Jounin make mistakes; they reacted a moment to late to stop Neji from destroying Hinata's heart. Losing the Hyuuga heiress was a cost in itself; having her replaced with a proud and powerful martial artist was another matter entirely. Ranma ½ Crossover

* * *

 _ **Chapter 1: A Heart Breaking Wish**_

Ranma Saotome, currently the heiress to the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, was getting increasingly frustrated as she stared up at the sky while laying in a water filled pond, courtesy of her so called fiancee, Akane Tendo.

The girl just didn't understand that her food, and fighting skills were awful. Ranma had been around with the girl for nearly three years and she still didn't understand that Ranma wasn't insulting her; she was just being honest. Lying didn't get you anywhere but caught in a web of problems...

Apparently so did telling the truth.

Still, despite Akane's lack of skill, she still had knack for throwing Ranma into pools of water, usually because Ranma allowed her to and because of her own magnetic attraction to water. Water just followed her everywhere, like it was trying to pull her in. This, of course, triggered her curse... The curse of the Nyannichuan or The Spring of the Drowned Girl.

Cold water, when poured on her body, caused her body to shift and change into that of a rather buxom red head that was known as the "Red-Haired Goddess" by anyone who didn't know her true form that came back when hot water was poured on her form; that of a tall and powerful man that was known as the "God-Slayer" by anyone who knew of his power.

It was a known fact by anyone who challenged Ranma before he received his title that he was deadly powerful and he only grew more powerful as time went on; ultimately ending the stream of challengers as he began to simply take them out with a flick of his wrist because of how weak they were.

No one, not even the Grand Master of the Anything Goes School, was able to match Ranma in sheer power and skill, not after he destroyed the Phoenix God Saffron. Of course, for all his power and skill, he was still unable to get out of the mess his father had put him in.

He was engaged to three separate females at the moment, each having a rather valid claim on his hand in marriage but none of them holding his heart. He had thought, briefly, that he loved Akane, but after a failed wedding that they were willing to go through with, Ranma discovered that Akane had hidden a water-filled cask that held the only way to cure his curse.

After that, Ranma distanced himself from Akane to a degree, going so far as to run ahead when they were going to school or leaving if she came into the Dojo. It wasn't the fact that he had lost the cure that upset him, something that seemed to completely baffle Akane, but the fact that she hid it from him simply because she couldn't trust him with it.

Still, dinner was another matter. He couldn't avoid dinner without Akane hurting someone else so he sacrificed himself once more to her awful cooking and received a harsh kick in the face when he noted it was even worse than the last thing she cooked.

It was quickly becoming tiring.

It had been nearly a year since Nabiki had left for college and Ranma was just about to get out of High School; where he would then be his own man to a degree. It was something he couldn't wait for because he would finally be away from Akane and, more importantly, the chaos that revolved around the Tendo Dojo.

With a sigh, Ranma got to her feet, using a burst of her ki energy to evaporate the water on her body. She just made her way towards the front gate, completely ignoring Akane's sudden cry, "Wait you asshole! Get back here! I'm not done with you yet!" Ranma just rolled her blue eyes and didn't acknowledge that she heard her.

Her walk quickly turned into a burst of speed that would make anyone green with envy, her body going across the town of Nerima in nearly an instant. She settled on top of one of the taller buildings in the area and simply sat down to think, crossing her legs and arms with a frown on her face.

What would it be like to simply leave all of this behind? Get away from Akane and her insufferable family. Ranma could safely say that only Mousse and Ryoga were good company now, with Mousse finally seeming to realize Ranma didn't want anything to do with Shampoo and both of them realizing Ranma was completely out of their league.

But even they had their annoying faults and if they acted out of 'character' in front of others, such as the old Amazon matriarch Cologne, then it would start a barrage of questions that none of them wanted to bother answer. The only real thing Ranma could do to get out of the mess was leave; leave and find a way to make sure they never found her.

The only problem was _how_ to do that, but for once the Gods seemed to be on Ranma's side and answered her plea, though not in the way she wished.

Ranma groaned, feeling her chest suddenly tightening up and, before she could even let out a scream of pain, she fell back with glassy eyes and blood dripping out of her mouth onto the roof she was resting on.

It would be some time before anyone found Ranma's unconscious body, but her mind was already long gone...

* * *

"You are weak, Hinata." Came the spiteful voice of one Neji Hyuuga, cousin of the very woman he was insulting as they stood across from each other in a large arena. It was the middle of the Chunin exams in a large tower the Genin had fought to reach and now were fighting a series of preliminary bouts to see who would go to the next stage.

Sadly for Hinata, she was 'fated' to go against her cousin that she loved dearly, despite his extreme hatred for the Main House of the Hyuuga Family, which Hinata was the heiress of. Even as he insulted her, she felt nothing but love for her cousin and it showed as she smiled softly at him, even as blood dripped from her mouth from one of Neji's earlier attacks.

"I won't go back on my word, Neji-niisama." She whispered softly, her eyes showing compassion that angered Neji even further. "I will change the Hyuuga, for the better, and I will win here. I swear on my Nindo, my Ninja way." The Hyuuga truly were one of the most broken clans, despite their arguments otherwise.

Neji was apart of that broken chain; a line of hatred created from the Hyuuga sacrificing Neji's father to Hinata's and then branding the boy with the Caged Bird Seal, preventing him from ever disobeying a member of the main house and destroying his eyes should he ever die. His hatred was born through ignorance and mistrust, causing him to blame others that had no hand in his pain.

But he was far too young and inexperienced to realize his folly; that hatred blinded those who lost themselves to it, no matter how powerful they were.

With a scream of anguish that was unfitting for the young and powerful Hyuuga, he charged forward, intent on ending Hinata's life then and there. The Jounin in the room, who were set there to watch their own Genin fight and to make sure no one died for no reason, tensed up and prepared to intervene in case Hinata could not dodge the blow that was aimed for her heart.

They were stopped as a loud voice rang out, threatening to deafen those closest to it's source, "Go Hinata! You can do it! Show him who's boss!" It was a blonde boy, his bright blue eyes wide with excitement and care for his lavender-eyed friend. It was his words that previously got the girl to fight, to make it so she didn't feel the need to back down to any challenge that presented itself.

His words gave her power.

 _'Naruto-Kun... believes in me!'_ Hinata thought with a smile, watching the approaching form of her cousin with tears brimming in her eyes. She would not fall here... Not without proving that Neji was wrong, that she, someone who failed at everything, could become someone great.

With her own cry, she met the surprised Neji head on, slamming a charged palm strike into his neck and shoulder, sending him skidding across the ground with his head hitting against the wall. She panted, her eyes half open as she stared at his fallen form and he made no attempt to get up; the chakra point in his spine had been temporarily shut off, preventing him from moving.

There was silence in the room, the only sound being Hinata's heavy panting, before Hayate walked up to the girl. The brown-haired Jounin slowly lifted his hand, nodding. "Winner... Hinata Hyuuga!" A loud cry came from the blonde again, but it was silenced as Hinata suddenly fell to her knees, causing all eyes to widen as blood poured from her mouth.

Hinata had hit her target dead on; resulting in her victory... But so did Neji. With her heart nearly completely obliterated, her life was quickly ending. Still... despite all the pain, despite all her depression as she knew her life was going to end, she still turned her head up to look towards the blonde who had pushed her to victory.

With a bloody smile, she held her hand up and gave him a small thumbs up, before collapsing to the ground, the last thing in her sight being Naruto's surprised stare.

Hyuuga Hinata was dead.

* * *

...Or so they thought.

The medic Nin that had grabbed both Hyuuga off the field to heal them were staring with wide eyes as Hinata suddenly sat up, blood dripping from her mouth and a frown on her face. They had her on a rolling bed with the intention of delivering her straight to the Hyuuga compound in the village, but hadn't even got two feet from the medical bay.

She coughed once, then twice, before shaking her head and looking around with a surprisingly blank look on her face, despite having just came back from the dead. She suddenly snapped her head towards the head doctor, who had just been about to lean over her to preform a diagnostic Jutsu on her body, but was now just staring at her with wide eyes.

She had been dead, not two seconds before, and now she was staring at him with a blank expression. Had he not been trained for the most stressful situations, he probably would have fainted as she spoke...

"Where the hell am I now?"

* * *

Chapter 1 – End: _**The first chapter ended up being way shorter than I though, while the "thick" part of this story came in the second chapter. Since it's the first story, I decided to just include it!**_

* * *

 _ **Chapter 2: New friends! New enemies! New... body?**_

Ranma was _not_ happy, at all. There had been an odd pain in her chest when she was on the roof of a building, and now there were four men in white staring at her as if she were a ghost. The pain in her chest was gone but she could feel blood drying in her mouth, meaning she must have got hit pretty hard for blood to come out of the inside.

That or Akane's cooking affected her body worse than she thought it did.

She could feel that this body was not like it was before. Her chest felt a tad lighter, her limbs felt heavier, and she could feel a dull ache throughout her body. It also felt... smaller, more compact but just as agile, if not more so, than her normal body. She'd have to test it out later to be sure, but Ranma was certain that she was currently not in her own body and she didn't figure the doctors were any help unless this was their fault.

Which she doubted since they looked as surprised as she was.

Still, she was getting increasingly annoyed by the way they just stared at her and she let out a sigh. "Seriously, where am I? This doesn't look like the clinic." She noted that her voice was different, softer but still as attractive as it normally was. She spit out some of the blood in her mouth before starting to hop off the bed, which seemed to finally snap the men in white out of their trance.

"W.. Wait! Hyuuga-Sama! You mustn't get up..." One spoke up, trying to push her back onto the bed but to no avail as he found himself easily overpowered by the girl, even though being called "Hyuuga-Sama" had left Ranma too shocked to really try.

 _'Hyuuga-Sama? Okay Ranma, stay calm. You've dealt with this before... sort of. Just act aloof and get more information.'_ She turned her gaze towards the man and pushed his hand off, a frown on her face. "I feel fine. What happened?" She sat on the bed, stretching her arms above her head and letting out a tired yawn. Boy, her body suddenly felt rather sore, as if she just got beat up by Ryoga in a spar.

No way that happened though.

The man seemed obviously surprised at her question, as if he expected her to know the answer. "Uh, well... Hyuuga-Sama, you fought Neji-San," She arched her eyebrow at the spiteful way Neji was said, but didn't comment, "And received a crippling blow to your Tenketsu on your heart... To be honest, Hyuuga-Sama, you shouldn't be alive." Ranma just shrugged her shoulders, even as she puzzled out the information.

 _'I don't recall anyone named Neji and I definitely don't recall fighting. Something weird is going on around here... Again.'_ Ranma briefly wondered why everything happened to her in some way or form, but was brought out of her musings as the doctor spoke up again.

"Hyuuga-Sama..." Ranma held her hand up, stopping him as she stared down the hallway, a frown on her face. Something was coming and it was powerful, not nearly close to her level, or even Shampoo's, but enough to warrant her being wary.

A moment later, a beautiful woman turned the corner, her red eyes showing extreme worry that changed to surprised happiness as her eyes met Ranma's. In an instant, faster than Ranma could blink, but not faster than she could see, the woman was pushing Ranma's head into her chest and the martial artist could feel tear drops dripping onto her head, though she was blinded by the mounds pushing against her face.

"Oh Hinata! I thought you were a goner! I'm so glad you're okay!" The woman cried out, pushing Ranma's face even closer her chest. Normally such a stunt would cause Ranma to blush and push away, but she simply sat there, too shocked to return the gesture as the woman worried over her... Over _her!_ She was Ranma Saotome! Heir, or Heiress, to the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts! No one worried over her! She was stronger than that!

Despite her thoughts, she couldn't help but feel a pang of disappointment when the woman pulled away, smiling tearfully down at her. "I can't believe you beat Neji... How are you feeling?" Ranma squirmed under the concerned gaze and shrugged her shoulders.

"Fine, chest kind of hurts." A lot, now that she focused on it, but not enough to make her wince. "Can't say I remember what happened though." Apparently that was the wrong thing to say as the concern turned to surprise and the woman tilted her head slightly.

"Not a single stutter?" Ranma gave her a confused stare but she seemed to just shrug it off, turning her head towards the doctor. "May Hinata return to the stands or do you need to do more tests?" The doctor who Ranma had previously been talking to spoke up, a nervous look on his face.

"Kurenai-San..." So her name was Kurenai? Ranma mentally tacked that down as she glanced towards the doctor. "We haven't done a single test. She just suddenly sat up." Kurenai gave Ranma a surprised look that fell into a concerned frown.

"Well, perhaps she should..." Ranma frowned, knowing she wouldn't learn anything of the situation from a hospital bed.

Ranma suddenly hopped to her feet, shaking her head to hide her stumble. "I'm fine. Let's go." Kurenai frowned but glanced to the doctor, unsure of what to make of Ranma's behavior. The doctor hesitantly nodded and Kurenai sighed, grabbing Ranma's hand only for the girl to jerk it back with a surprised look on her face. "Uh, just surprised me is all..." She quickly said, noticing Kurenai's concerned gaze return.

She allowed Kurenai to lead her to a rather large circular room where she could see several people standing on an upper-area while a few men stood below, pushing mops across the ground in order to clean up a red stain. They did turn their heads as she entered and their eyes grew wide as they saw her standing there beside Kurenai.

Everyone looked at her, actually, and it was rather annoying. Angrily, she glared up at them, putting her hands on her hips in a manner that seemed to surprise them even more than her appearance in the room. With a _hmph_ , she made her ways up the stairs with Kurenai following behind, seeming just as bewildered as the rest of the room.

As she settled to leaning against the wall behind her, she nearly fell over as a orange and blonde blur suddenly appeared beside her and she found herself staring into a pair of bright blue eyes. She felt an odd heat in her chest and tilted her head slightly as the boy smiled at her brightly with a few tears tracks on his cheeks, showing he had been crying a bit, "Hinata! You're okay!?"

She flinched slightly from the volume of his voice and nodded her head, crossing her arms over her chest. She noted the boy was barely taller than her, which was very unnatural since her female body was usually very short. _'I have to find a mirror after this.'_ Her thoughts almost distracted her enough to miss the boy getting beside her, smiling his bright smile.

"I'm glad you're okay. I thought..." He shook his head slightly and shrugged, "Well, I guess it doesn't matter, but you sure kicked Neji's ass!" Ranma had to smirk slightly, even though she didn't actually fight this 'Neji' character.

Still, this kid was obviously her friend and apparently didn't notice anything strange about her so far, "So what happened anyways? I'm still feeling a bit woozy." Her comment got her an odd look from the boy but he seemed to shrug it off rather quickly, though she noted Kurenai was glancing at her even more now.

"Well right now they just finished cleaning up the floor and..." The blonde boy was interrupted as a boy clad in what looked like a green jump suit suddenly yelled out as he fell to the ground, smirking towards a red haired boy that appeared across from him in a swirl of sand. Ranma watched the scene curiously as the boy with the bowl cut began to ramble on about how he would "youthfully defeat his opponent."

Ranma was silent, along with her blonde companion, as the battle suddenly started. _'So this is some kind of tournament thing?'_ Ranma thought as she watched the boy, Lee, dance around spikes of sand. After a few moments of watching him dance around his opponent, though not getting a single hit in, Ranma stroked her chin thoughtfully, _'He's fast, but he has no hitting power. It's almost like he trained his legs more than his fists.'_

"Gee, fuzzy brows is really fast." Ranma nodded her head to the blonde's comment, a frown on her face.

"He won't win though. His legs are fast but his arms are slow." The whiskered boy gave her a curious look, tilting his head. She sighed slightly, pointing at the red-head he was fighting named Gaara. "That boy's sand is slower than his feet, but not his hands. He didn't balance himself." Kurenai glanced over, smiling a bit at 'Hinata' being so observant, though there was still concern in her eyes.

Ranma was also very interested in the sand technique Gaara was using, but she figured it was some sort of special technique only he could use... Then again, that never stopped Ranma from learning techniques before; she could use Saffron's fire techniques to a degree after all.

With that in mind, she watched the fight more carefully and focused on the way Gaara was controlling the sand. Unconsciously, she pushed ki towards her eyes to get a better focus but when the world suddenly expanded she jumped, her eyes wide. She could see everything around her, in a 360 angle if she did the math right, and there were odd blue lines covering everyone's body.

Kurenai seemed to notice her jump and turned towards her, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Are you alright, Hinata? Why did you activate the Byakugan?" Ranma nodded her head at the first question but gave her a confused glance at the second.

"What's a ..." She bit her lip and sighed, knowing that asking such a question would just get her thrown into the hospital again. "Uh, just watching the battle." She figured that it was an eye thing, considering her sight just changed. Let it be known that Ranma was anything but stupid; she just wasn't book smart.

Luckily, Kurenai seemed to accept that answer and turned her own eyes to the battle, missing Ranma's eyes widening. Everyone was surrounded in this odd blue glow that reminded her of ki, but mixed with something else. _'Physical and Spiritual Energy? I never thought of mixing the two...'_ While Ranma was not the most spiritual person, despite having met and defeated several types of spirits, she still had a massive reserve of both Physical and Spiritual energy, something that seemed to have carried over to her current body if she was any judge, but she had never bothered using the Spiritual energy for anything other than a Moko Takabisha which took shape due to her emotions.

...But if she could make it a physical shape with her ki, then she wouldn't need to rely on her emotions anymore... Ranma shook her head, clearing her thoughts and focusing on the 'energy' she could now see.

There were only two people in the room that had nearly the same amount as her; an old man sitting down in a chair and the blonde boy beside her who was lit up like a bonfire. There was also an odd red swirl of the energy swirling in his stomach, but she ignored it as she focused on her prime target; Gaara.

The boy also had a rather large reserve of this strange energy, but not the same amount the boy beside her had. Unlike the whiskered boy, he also had a steady stream of murky brown energy coming out of his body and mixing with the sand he was controlling. It was rather amazing watching a spec of energy connect with sand and move it individually while at the same time staying connected with the rest of the particles.

She could probably imitate it to an extent, but it was easy to see the draw backs of it. Other than the sand remaining around his feet that had blocked several of Lee's attacks, she found that he had to remain still while controlling the sand in order to focus on moving it.

 _'Still, I could probably adapt it to something. Maybe a sneak attack in the middle of a fight?'_ That was a pleasant thought, but it was a short one as she saw Lee suddenly spin in the air, landing on top of a giant statue in the shape of two hands making some sort of seal.

"Lee!" Her head tilted slightly, putting a larger version of "Lee" in her vision and she arched her eyebrows slightly at the sight of his body. She couldn't see it clearly due to her 'Byakugan' vision, but she could tell he was very fast and strong with just a glance. Unlike Lee, it was obvious the guy trained his fists as much as his legs. "Take them off Lee! I approve!"

Ranma's face fell, as did many others, at the odd sentence before Lee nodded solemnly, standing up on the statue. "I swore I would only take these off if Gai-Sensei permitted it or a precious person was in danger... Now I will show you my true youthful power!" With that, he slid his orange leg warmers off, revealing a pair of weights.

Ranma rolled her eyes slightly, watching with a bored expression as they hit the ground and made two large craters in the arena. Her blonde companion wasn't quite as quiet as she was about it though, "Whoa! Those must have been super heavy! I bet fuzzy brows can win now." He grinned as he saw Lee blur across the field, too fast for anyone to see clearly...

Except for Ranma.

"He won't. Sorry, kid." She had a bitter smile on her face as she stared down at Gaara, ignoring the shocked look Kurenai was giving her. "He might have a fast body, but the red head has a faster mind." Naruto frowned at her words, scratching behind his head.

"What's up with you Hinata? And don't call me kid, you're as old as I am." He huffed slightly, seeming put off by Hinata's odd mood, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki; you know that! Is something wrong with your head Hinata?" 'Hinata' just blinked at him curiously, scratching her cheek.

"Huh? Is there? Sorry, Naruto. I'm still a little out of it. Having your heart almost explode would do that." Naruto's eyes widened and surprisingly he put a hand on her shoulder, smiling in a way that unnerved her and made her cheeks oddly hot. _'Whoa what's with this body? It's like he just hit a switch.'_

She shivered from the contact, unable to stop herself from blushing as he grinned at her, "Well, I'm glad you're okay Hinata! Still, maybe you should get some rest soon..." The concern was flattering but Ranma pulled herself away from his hand, trying to get her breathing under control.

 _'Okay, note to self... This guy can't touch me. It's like my body is allergic to him.'_ She shook her head and, in order to keep him from getting too worried and touching her again, she smiled at him with practiced ease. "I'm fine, Naruto. Don't worry." He just smiled and nodded, turning his eyes towards the fight just as Lee, after moving back from a recovering Gaara, starting to cross his arms over his chest.

"Gate of Life... Open!" The power rushing off Lee was incredible, especially to Ranma who could see it, but her eyes narrowed as she saw _how_ the energy was getting to him. It was like a flood gate; the ki that had been keeping his body together was going through the blue lines in his body now rather than being held back inside him. Now it was pumping more energy than it should into his body, turning his skin red and his eyes white.

The effect was obvious in an instant; he seemingly teleported in front of Gaara, smashing the boy into the air before his sand could even register that he moved. Ranma winced to herself as Gaara was kicked higher and higher before being wrapped up in bandages, for the second time in the fight, and started to get bounced up and down by Lee's fist, looking a lot like a white and red yo-yo.

Naruto was staring with wide eyes, barely able to catch the speed Lee was moving at, and he gulped slightly, not being too eager to fight something like that. He did glance to Hinata to see how she was reacting but found her just frowning and staring up at Lee. "What's up Hinata?"

Ranma didn't even glance at him, completely focused on the fight, "He's lost. That power is killing him." Naruto frowned and turned towards the fight again just as the attack ended and Lee landed on the ground, panting with his skin returning to it's normal shade. It looked to be over as Gaara made no attempt to get out of the crater that Lee left him in.

At least until the sand away from the crater suddenly lifted up, revealing Gaara's slightly chipped and smiling face... a smile that was anything but pleasant as sand began to crawl up Lee's leg and arm, causing his eyes to widen as the pressure began to build up.

Ranma growled in annoyance and shoved her hand forward, surprising the two beside her as she sent out a wave of energy, working it around the sand like Gaara had done. It caused several eyes to widen but none widened more than Gaara's as the sand was pulled back, allowing Lee to pull away and raise his hand slowly to surrender.

"God... dammit." Ranma muttered as she fell to her knees, grasping her chest and panting as the energy she sent out dispersed. It was surprisingly tiring to do and a small notch of respect went up for Gaara for dealing with it constantly. Though that respect was quickly draining to slight panic as she realized the boy was staring at her with wide eyes and sand was quickly darting in her direction. She tried to move but the pain in her chest, which she had been ignoring before, was now paralyzing her limbs.

Luckily, a brown-haired man with sickly eyes and a sword jumped in the way, slicing through the sand like butter and glaring down at Gaara. "The match is over. Rock Lee surrendered. Get back." He coughed softly right afterward, but it had the needed effect. Gaara slowly made his way back to the steps while the man turned his gaze towards Ranma who was being helped to her feet by Kurenai. "I should disqualify you for interfering."

Ranma glared at him slightly, not sure what she was going to be disqualified for but unable to take the words laying down, "I did what I had to do. He was going to crush his bones to powder. Sorry for doing your job." At least she assumed it was his job to get in the way in case things went out of control, considering he had blocked Gaara from attacking her.

The man gave her a slightly annoyed look before jumping down again, not commenting while calling for the last two contestants. Everyone was staring at her rather than the contestants as they made their way down, a large boy with brown hair and a boy with a mummified face and a gauntlet on his arm.

Kurenai glanced at the last two fighters before pulling Ranma close to her chest, frowning down at the girl who was holding her own chest in obvious pain. "We should get you to the doctor, Hinata. It looks like using your chakra like that opened your wound..." Or at least that's what she assumed, but there was no way for her to really check, "After that, we're going to have a talk."

Ranma shook her head however, causing Kurenai to narrow her eyes at the stubborn martial artist, "I'm fine, just give me a second..." She closed her eyes, ignoring everything around her as she focused her energy on healing her body, unknowingly causing her form to glow a bright green.

In a moment, her pain faded and she lowered her hands with a smile, "Much better..." She muttered, glancing up to see Kurenai's shocked expression.

"How did you..?" The red-eyed Jounin seemed completely taken back by the action and Ranma couldn't help but smile, though she was spared answering as Kurenai's attention was taken by a loud crashing noise as the brown-haired boy, Chouji, turned into a massive ball and rammed into a wall.

Ranma could already see what he was doing, due to her enhanced sight with the 'Byakugan'. She had to admit that expanding one's body fat was rather interesting, though she could see no way to use it herself. _'Maybe Pop would use it? He'd probably like having another excuse to eat.'_ She grinned at her own thoughts, unknowingly leaning back with her shoulder against Naruto.

The blonde glanced at her and smiled slightly, leaning against her a bit as well as he watched the fight. The white-clad Nin, Dosu, was hopping around like a rabbit, dodging all of Chouji's attempts to hit him until the Akimichi hit another wall.

Dosu swung at him, punching his enlarged stomach and jumping back just as Chouji returned to his normal size, promptly losing his lunch over the floor. Dosu smirked under his bandages at the sight as Chouji swayed on his feet. "Ugh what happened..? I thought..." The Akimichi grumbled out, barely able to form a sentence.

Dosu chuckled softly and seemed to have no problem explaining things to his opponent, "Expanding your body and hiding your ears was a good strategy, but I could still send vibrations through the water in your body." The large Akimichi nodded slowly, raising his hand soon after.

"Winner, Dosu Kinuta." Hayate called out, watching Chouji make his way back up the stairs. "Now, will all the winning contestants come down and take one paper from this box to decide the match up of the third exam." As he spoke, the Jounin held up a small box.

All of the winners made their way down, though Ranma had to be 'reminded' by Kurenai to do so and Kakashi took one for Sasuke, due to the Uchiha being unconscious still. One by one they took a paper out of the box and stepped back. Hayate nodded at them, "Please state your number."

After everyone had done so, Hayate took the papers back from the group and placed them back in the box. "The battles in the third round will be as followed:

Naruto Uzumaki VS Hyuuga Hinata

Gaara VS Uchiha Sasuke

Kankuro VS Aburame Shino

Temari VS Dosu Kinuta, with Shikamaru Nara receiving a bye due to the uneven number."

Naruto gave Ranma a nervous look, but the girl didn't even seem to notice as she rubbed the back of her head, not recognizing most of the names said. Hayate coughed into his hand, looking up at the group of Genin. "You will meet up at the arena in..." He paused, coughing again, causing several people to twitch impatiently. "... in Konoha. You've got a month to recover and train. Dismissed." And with that, he turned and walked away, heading for the Hokage who stood nearby and the two moved together towards the nearest exit.

The rest, now having very no business, followed suit... Though there was a brief scuffle as one particular Genin failed to walk with the correct group and was being dragged slightly by her arm towards the door. The pout on her face made several pause, but those that knew her were more unnerved than anything.

Konoha's little Hyuuga couldn't be _that_ cute!

* * *

 _ **Chapter 2: End! And with it, the first "story" in the unfinished collection. The last bit, following the fight listing for the upcoming Chunin exam, was written in just before I uploaded this for anyone curious. Might be why it seems to stick out slightly, at least for me... Would probably change it if I made this into a full story!**_

 _ **Anyways! Tell me what you thought! What happened to Hinata? Is she really dead? What about Ranma's body? How will everyone reach when they know the truth~!? What about Ranma's family? How will they react to finding out Ranma could, potentially!, be dead in their world!?**_

 _ **I actually know all the answers and more since I remember what the overall plot was going to be. The next one will be up... at some point! I'll do some light editing on it and make it a pure Naruto one, followed by a pure Ranma one! I'll break the theme with something else … eventually!**_

 _ **Be sure to tell me if the story catches your fancy! Expect more to come! I think I've got at least a dozen!**_


	2. Never Turn Back Chapter 1

_**A guilty pleasure. This story is, more or less, how I feel Naruto**_ **should** ** _have gone after that fateful moment in the Chunin exam. I think the title, and summary!, speaks for itself on what it's about. Enjoy~_**

Never Turn Back: A Flower Blooms

Summary: "I will... become stronger. I will defend my teammates, my friends. I will not turn back into that girl I was before. I am Sakura Haruno, and I'm going to kick your ass." Born with nothing but minor talents, it's up to one girl to use all of them to survive in this Ninja world.

Warning: Descriptions of characters already pre-made will be rather vague on purpose... Because I'm lazy. Anything 'new', however, will be as detailed as I can get it.

* * *

Deep within the village of Konoha was a large forest known as "The Forest of Death"... unofficially, at least. Officially it was training ground 44 and the location of a large portion of the Chunin Exams that took place every few years for upcoming Ninja. Many villages from many different areas all gathered for this event, which shuffled between each village's location so everyone would have a chance to set up unique challenges for the Chunin hopefuls.

This time it was Konoha's job, and they decided to go with what they were best at: Surviving in the forest. This forest was home to many monsters of various types, from giant leeches to horrifying snakes. Not even the Genin from Konoha were used to these monsters, and some had already fallen prey to them.

But the biggest challenge was not even the monsters, but other Ninja. The challenge was to survive for, at least, three days with your team with other teams trying to hunt you down to get a 'Heaven' or 'Earth' scroll. If you ended up getting to the middle of the forest, where a large stone tower stood, without both scrolls in your possession...

Then you failed.

The same thing happened if you came to the tower with one of your teammates either dead or too wounded to lift their heads up. What was the point, after all, of surviving if one of your friends ended up dead for it? Such team work was what Konoha was known for.

Which brings us to one of the most questionable teams in Konoha.

One made up of the last Uchiha, the Junchiriki of the Kyuubi, and a simple pink haired girl who's only strong quality is her chakra control and book smarts. These three have had constant conflicts between each other, but none can say they would ever abandon anyone. Not a single one of them would dare put their teammates in harms way if they could help it.

But that didn't mean they could avoid trouble all together.

The three had found themselves targeted by Orochimaru of the Sannin, one of the most powerful and feared Ninja in the world and an 'Missing Nin' of Konoha. He had left Naruto Uzumaki, the Kyuubi's container, and Uchiha Sasuke completely incapacitated with one seal on each of them.

With Naruto, it was a seal on his stomach where the Kyuubi's prison was located. Putting one seal on another is like putting hot sauce on ice cream: it just doesn't mix well. The two seals put together ripped poor Naruto's chakra coils apart, rendering the boy unconscious until the Kyuubi could sort things out from the inside.

Sasuke, on the other hand, had a seal placed on his neck. The contents of the seal were unknown to the trio at this moment, but it had been applied by Orochimaru sinking his teeth, quite literally, into the boy's neck. The act had left him unconscious almost instantly...

But that was only the start of the group's problems. With only one of them awake, they were prime targets for others looking for their scrolls. So their 'awake' member, Sakura Haruno, decided to hide the two under a tree and stand by. With various traps around the entire clearing, there was no way anyone would ever get to her...

Right?

* * *

 _'Stupid.'_ Sakura thought to herself in annoyance as she felt the Sound Nin pull on her long pink hair once again, keeping her held down as the black haired girl's other teammate began to walk towards Sakura's team underneath the large roots of a tree.

The Sound Nin had fallen upon her without much warning, disabling her traps and leaving her helpless to their assault. Their unique abilities were also key in keeping the girl from even reacting much.

The girl who held onto her hair, for instance, was named Kin and had small bells on the end of small needles she threw. The bells released subtle rings that caused Sakura's vision to swim, which caused her to be a prime target for her teammate, Zaku, who had metal tubes sticking out of his hands.

The tubes were more than just show, however, as powerful gusts of wind shot out of them and sent Sakura flying backwards into the very tree she was trying to protect. While she slid down to recover, the last member of the group, Dosu, had charged forward and slung his arm towards the girl.

While the blow didn't connect, or even come close to the girl the large metal gauntlet the mummified boy wore on his right arm caused a large wave of sound to cause the girl's ears to suddenly start bleeding, leaving her stunned long enough for Kin to get behind her and grab the girl's long pink hair.

Kin and Zaku were both mocking her now, with Kin hitting the nail right on the head as she said the girl was "Nothing but a girl playing Ninja, hoping for her prince charming to save her." The words cut keep with Sakura as the girl mocked her hair, saying she only kept it long and 'pretty' to attract boys.

It was true, too. The pink haired girl had only left her hair long because she heard Sasuke liked long hair. She only became a Ninja because Ino talked her into it, and then because Sasuke had taken the attention of both the girls...

 _'And now he's about to die because I'm too useless to protect him.'_ The girl thought to herself, closing her eyes tightly as tears began to form. Endless visions popped through her mind as she recalled how often she had simply stared at Sasuke instead of training.

How long she had stared at that back, hoping one day to walk along side him?

But she merely waited, and while she waited for that, she found Naruto, the class 'clown' back in the Ninja Academy, had long since passed her. She had been passed by the so called 'dead last' in almost every quality. Even his strategies were a step ahead of hers. She had two backs to look at...

But now, for once, they were counting on _her_. They were counting on her to save them from death.

 _'And I've failed them...'_ The girl's head lowered slowly as she whimpered, though the pain from her hair did not cause the whimper. The pain of failure, a taste she rarely had, was bitter and...

 _ **'CHA! What are you talking about!?'**_ The sudden voice caused her eyes to widen as time seemed to slow itself down. **' _You are alive! They are alive! Get up! Stand! You don't have time to sit here and cry! Take out these sons of bitches and tear that girl's hair out! Now, Sakura Haruno!'_** The voice was familiar, and very loud, yet it felt like the first time Sakura had ever really heard it.

But that was unimportant.

The important part... was saving her teammates. At all costs.

The first thing to do was to survey the scene.

Behind her was Kin, keeping Sakura on her knees near the entrance of the tree as she held the girl's neck. The Sound Nin had still not stopped mocking her, but Sakura had long since started to ignore it. Zaku was taking his time heading towards the tree himself and was about half way there in the large circle-like clearing. He was also mocking her and looking back towards Dosu, who stood near the tree line in the back, though Sakura didn't know why.

Dosu was the only one being quiet, yet he too showed his arrogance as he did not so much as glance at Sakura. The only thing to really do now, was wait... and as if on cue, the girl felt the grip on her hair loosen slightly as Kin's head jerked back to laugh at something Zaku said...

Her eyes were closed.

 _'I'm not as fast as Sasuke.'_ The girl thought, her hand jolting to the side to grab at her kunai pouch as a plan began to form in her mind. ' _I'm not as strong as Naruto.'_ Her hand shot upwards, slicing off her own hair and shocking the three Sound Nin who had thought the girl had completely given up.

Kin was the most shocked and stunned by the move, as she had been holding onto the hair which was now lacking any weight holding it down, and she had been leaning back as well. Stumbling back, the girl couldn't dodge in time before Sakura's form shot upwards, slicing up the girl's chest with her kunai as pink hair began to blow across the field quickly from a gust of wind.

Kin could only stare in shock with her mouth agape, but it was quickly closed as Sakura's left leg shot upwards from the side, slamming into the side of Kin's head and sending the girl flying to the side towards a tree... which caused her to instantly fall unconscious as she hit against it with surprising force, head first.

"Kin! You bitch!" Zaku's words were almost lost on Sakura in the haze of adrenaline that was shooting through her veins, but it was warning enough to kick herself to the side quickly.

Not quick enough, however, to completely dodge the blast of wind that Zaku sent her way. It clipped her side and made her spin in mid air from the force, but instead of resisting the force, she let herself be guided by it and slammed her kunai into the tree she had been shot towards. She was rather close to the tree Sasuke and Naruto were hiding under, but not quite.

But that didn't matter. The girl used her kunai to pull herself up and she pushed her feet against the thick bark. _'Come on, Sakura! Push all of your chakra into your feet, just like Naruto did back then!'_ The plan was simple: Get up into the trees.

But Sakura was not known for her chakra amount, only her control. She knew the basics, and knew how to climb trees using only her chakra at her feet. She, and the rest of her team, had been taught that back in Wave and she was the first to master the exercise... though that wasn't _too_ impressive, now that she thought about it.

But now she had to do it the _wrong_ way and use it to her advantage.

She forced as much chakra as she could and then spread it out under her feet. She could feel the bark threatening to break under her feet and her muscles creak as well as the chakra built up...

And then she was off, just in time to dodge another blast of powerful wind from Zaku.

"Damn bitch... Thinking she's gonna run away after that, I'll..!" Zaku was starting to aim towards the trees above, where Sakura had disappeared, when a green blur suddenly shot from the side and went towards him quickly.

Zaku had been lucky Dosu was paying attention, however, as the boy yanked his teammate back from behind just in time to dodge a punch from the green blur, which revealed itself to be Rock Lee of Konoha just a moment later who was glaring fiercely at the two.

Zaku was taken completely by surprise by the sudden movement, and could only sputter as he felt Dosu release him from behind. "W.. What the fuck? Who the hell are you?" Zaku spat out, seeming to completely forget about Sakura for a moment.

"I am the fierce beast of Konoha, Rock Lee!" The young boy shouted, his large eye brows narrowing as he held one hand up towards the two. "I will not allow you to harm another hair on my Sakura-chan's head!" The boy stiffened as if he was about to run forward, when a soft cough from behind caused the boy to pause as he turned his head slightly.

Sakura stood there with a frown on her face, causing the boy to blush slightly at being so close to his crush. While the two had only met briefly, Lee had been smitten by her beauty at the get-go... Though it was mostly the pink hair, if he had to be honest.

"Sakura-Chan! Don't worry, I'll..." Sakura held her hand up as Lee started, but her gaze was locked onto the two past him.

The action caused Lee to pause and his blush to fade as he stared at the intense expression the girl was wearing, with her green eyes staring at the two so hard that Lee was surprised the two didn't burst into flames. "No, Lee. I appreciate it, but this is my fight. I'm tired of looking at someone's back..." She glanced back towards the sleeping forms of her teammates. "Keep an eye on them, if you can. But I'll handle these two."

Zaku, who could only stare at the exchange, suddenly barked out a laugh, "You'll take care of us? You got Kin by surprise, I'll give you that, you trash... But there's no way you can take Dosu and me at the same time! Little Konoha bitch thinks she's suddenly hot shit for taking down someone..." His words earned a sharp glare from Lee and the boy opened his mouth to respond...

When Sakura's hand shot in front of his face as she stepped past him. "Lee. Back up. I'm..." She clenched her fist in front of his face, letting out an audible _pop_ as her muscles clenched. "Going to punch the shit out of him."

There was a brief moment of silence before Lee nodded, jumping back and standing in front of the opening in the tree with his arms closed. "Very well! I will not interfere, no matter what! Let your flames of youth burn, Sakura-Chan!" The girl smirked back at him and nodded, not letting the oddness of his words get to her.

Zaku just rolled his eyes, stepping away from the silent Dosu and putting his hands forward. "Fine, you want to go hard? Let's go hard, hm!" The air seemed to almost shake in front of the boy as he began to channel chakra to his arms, but Sakura didn't bother moving away. She simply walked towards him calmly with a determined frown on her face.

With a loud shout of "TAKE THIS!", Zaku's hands shot out a massive gust of air that swallowed Sakura whole. Thankfully, while the blast covered a large area, it didn't cover a large distance. The wind died down before it reached Lee who crossed his arms in front of his chest, though he had a look of worry on his face as he stared at the massive amount of dust and dirt being thrown into the air.

This kept Sakura's form from view, and Zaku showed no sign of letting up as he laughed loudly, knowing the girl would be ripped to shreds by his technique.

Dosu, however, was not as arrogant as his partner and far more skeptical. The boy moved to give out a warning that the situation was too good to be true, when Sakura suddenly appeared from above and slightly behind Zaku.

The boy had no time to respond as Sakura's fist slammed into the back of his head, sending him towards the ground. But his hands were still shooting powerful gusts of wind, which sunk into the ground a bit as he was sent to the ground. The force sent him flying upwards and straight into the branches above.

One particular branch was rather thick and didn't succumb right away to Zaku's force, and instead blocked the boy from going any higher. But this resulted in his back being bent the wrong way with his chest sticking down towards the ground as his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

The blow also caused the flow of chakra to stop, letting Zaku's hands finally rest and allowed his body to fall towards the ground. Sakura, however, had no intention of actually letting him hit the ground so easily and her foot met the side of his face as he came down, making him twist painfully in the air before falling onto his stomach.

Lowering her foot, Sakura turned her head towards the last remaining member who was frowning under the bandages that covered most of his face. "Like what you see?" Sakura questioned with a playful grin on her face, placing on hand on her hip.

Dosu knew she wasn't referring to her body, but rather her plan. As the dust finally began to settle down from Zaku's attack, he was not surprised to see nothing in the large tear in the ground except for some branches and the remains of some leafs that happened to fall into it.

The girl had used Lee's interruption to her advantage, tricking Zaku and the green boy to thinking that it was the real Sakura by using a mild Genjutsu to create sound waves near it, so it could speak and make noises it wouldn't normally be able to do. The basic Bunshin was only a visual fake, after all. It had no physical presence and could not make any sound. Even the vocal cords didn't work.

But there was, obviously, ways around that and the girl used that to advantage. She hid in the trees and only had the clone come down to throw him and Zaku off, while she climbed through the branches above. The wild life and Zaku's noisy attack kept either of them from hearing her approach either. Having Zaku blast himself up was probably not part of the plan, the girl had no way to know about his technique being that powerful, but it was a welcome bonus, he was sure.

Dosu clicked his tongue slightly. "Seems there's more to you than I thought, but you don't stand a chance against me, at least." Dosu wasn't quite sure of his words, but it would be a shame to his teammates if he didn't at least try to avenge them. With a sudden step forward and a swing of his Melody Arm that he wore, he sent a blast of sound towards the girl...

… Only for her to just stand there and take it without any reaction.

His eye widened as a result and he took a step back. _'No way... Did she already figure out the secret of my melody arm?'_ As if reading his thoughts, the girl smirked as she poked the side of her head.

"I figured your attack was sound based like that girl over there, especially when I heard more ringing when she didn't throw anymore bells. There are three types of leafs in this forest that are like cotton and easy to roll up into a ball... I just stuffed some in my ears so I can't hear a dang thing." Sakura explained, crossing her arms as she saw Dosu's one revealed eye narrow.

She was not done talking, however, and Dosu had no intention of interrupting. "I will let you take your teammates out of here if you leave your scroll behind and leave us alone. Next time I won't be so gentle. The girl should be fine, my cut was shallow so she won't even have a scar." Dosu wasn't quite sure the girl knew that, since it seemed like a bloody blow from where he had been standing...

But he wasn't quite in the position to deal with her. Even though he was sure he could take her in a fist fight, there was the chance of the green boy in the back stepping in and the Uchiha waking up.

Deciding to take his chance, the boy nodded and pulled out his scroll, tossing it to Sakura who caught it quickly. She stepped back and Dosu wasted no time in collecting Kin first, checking her wound. Sakura did seem to be telling the truth, it was mostly Kin's clothing that took the cut...

But the giant bruise on the side and top of her head was the most pressing matter. The bruise on top was much larger, due to it being from her slamming into a tree, but it didn't seem likely either would leave permanent damage... Although the bruise itself was surprising. The girl didn't look it, but she sure knew how to throw hits. If Dosu had any guess as to how she did it, it was probably her positioning.

The kick she had gave Kin was like out of a scroll, after all. Perfect to the T.

The lack of muscle on her body was made up for with the perfect form, something not even the strongest can really do without a lot of practice. It didn't seem like the girl had too much of that, but...

Well, none of that mattered.

Gathering up Kin, Dosu quickly moved across the field and pulled Zaku over his shoulder while he held Kin with one arm. He gave a brief nod towards Sakura before disappearing into the trees, leaving nothing but a large marking on the ground and a few leafs to show that they were there.

After waiting a few moments to make sure they were gone, Sakura let herself fall to her knees and she plucked the ear plugs made of leafs out of her ears, letting out a sigh of relief. _'I did it... I did it! I … I protected Sasuke-kun and Naruto on my own!'_ The feeling was refreshing... She wasn't so useless after all.

 _ **'Don't let it get to your head.'**_ The sudden voice made her head jerk up slightly. **_'You're not walking beside them yet. Work harder. Stay strong. You can't go back to how you were. If you stay weak...'_** Visions of Orochimaru suddenly invaded her head; images of how easily he had handled Sasuke and Naruto, as if he was toying with them. She had just stood by and watched...

The voice, whatever or whoever it was, was correct. _'I can't go back to just watching their backs because I did something right for once... I need to work harder, I need to plan better. I've got my strengths, things even those two can't do...'_ The idea that Sasuke couldn't do something was enough to make her stomach jump for a moment, but something seemed to push the feeling away.

The affection she had for Sasuke seemed so... childish now. How could she love someone she didn't really know? And it was obvious the boy had no romantic intentions for her... But if she could just stand beside him, that would be enough.

A sudden hand on her shoulder made her jump and she blinked up towards the grinning face of Rock Lee who was staring down at her. "Yosh! Well done, Sakura-Chan! That was a most youthful display!" Sakura grinned weakly at his response, starting to push herself up to her feet. She blinked as Lee helped her and she gave him a grateful smile.

"Thanks... for both things. But... What are you doing here anyways, Lee? Shouldn't you be with...?" His team. Rock Lee was part of 'Team Gai', a Konoha group made up of Hyuuga Neji and a young girl named Tenten. Both were fairly strong, and Lee himself was able to take down Sasuke with the Sharingan while only using Taijutsu.

The guy was unable to use Ninjutsu of any kind and Genjutsu was just a dream. But his Taijutsu was polished to perfection. Sasuke's Sharingan could not even track it.

Lee, still smiling from Sakura's actions and her words, opened his mouth to respond when both Ninja were interrupted by another voice calling out to them from the trees, "Lee! There you are. Why did you run off all of the sudden?" Neji and Tenten suddenly appeared behind him, both sporting frowns on their faces.

Neji, however, was frowning towards Sakura and ignoring Lee all together as Tenten began to berate him for running off without a word, leaving the two staring at a trail of dust. Neji's clear eyes stared at her without any sign of emotion and Sakura tried to resist shuffling her feet from the intensity of his stare.

She still wasn't used to seeing those eyes, despite having dealt with Hyuuga Hinata back in the academy. All Hyuuga had no pupils in their eyes, leaving just a light gray or lavender in Hinata's case. This was due to their Byakugan which allowed them to see the area around them and view the chakra coils and points inside someone's body...

But even without the Byakugan on, the girl felt like Neji was staring right into her.

"And another thing! You're too noisy! Why didn't you just sneak up on them and punch them in the back if it was that bad!?" Tenten's voice caught her attention and was a welcome distraction from Neji's stare. Lee was rubbing the back of his head, muttering "Sorry..." and Sakura couldn't help but smile, laughing softly which brought Tenten's attention to her.

"It's fine.." The pink haired girl waved her hand dismissively, smiling at Tenten who regarded her with curiosity. "He was a good distraction because he was so noisy." There was a playful tone to her voice and Lee blushed in embarrassment and from being 'praised' by his crush.

Tenten laughed at Sakura's remark and rolled her eyes, " I guess that's one positive, but still..." She shook her head. "Anyways, we should..."

"Wait." Neji suddenly spoke up, his Byakugan spiking to life with the veins on the side of his head growing more intense as he looked towards where Sasuke and Naruto rested. "It seems... we may have another problem." All eyes turned towards where he was looking and Sakura gasped as she saw Sasuke slowly getting to his feet.

But it wasn't the Sasuke she knew.

Black markings covered his face and dark purple chakra was whipping around him like a snake. His Sharingan was also active and seemed to be a darker red than normal as he turned his gaze towards Sakura slowly. The boy stepped over Naruto, who was still fast asleep, keeping his gaze locked on Sakura as he walked. The chakra around him seemed to calm as he walked, disappearing into the air.

The three beside her stiffened slightly, seeming ready to fight if the boy went hostile, but Sakura stepped away from them towards her teammate. "Sasuke... Are you alright?" The concern in her voice made Sasuke pause and he seemed to consider her for a few more moments before responding.

"Sakura... Who did that to you?" He was staring at her hair and at the scars along her exposed arms from when she was attacked by Zaku's wind blades. But the way he said it didn't really have concern in it, but... warning. He seemed to glance at the waiting members of Team Gai, his dark red eyes narrowing slowly. "Was it them?"

The three stiffened, but Sakura hastily waved her hands in the air in front of herself. "No, no. Lee was just helping and they came after him... I chased off the ones that were fighting, no need to worry, Sasuke." The lack of -kun barely registered to either party and Sasuke clicked his tongue, but regarded Sakura with a bit of confusion.

"You chased them off..? Hn..." The slightest smirk seemed to appear on his face and the black markings slowly receded back into the marking on his neck. "They must have been pretty weak, then..." He stared at her while Lee and Tenten bristled beside her, while she was just stared a bit blankly.

A taunt. He was taunting her. Calling her weak. Nothing new there, but the way he said it...

It was the same kind of taunt he'd throw at Naruto.

She smiled playfully and shrugged her shoulders, not letting the taunt get to her. "They were too arrogant, I just got the jump on them. But I got their scroll." She held the scroll up, earning a sharp nod from Sasuke as his eyes shifted away from the Sharingan into the normal onyx shade.

"Hn, fine. We should get to the tower then... Where is..?" She pointed behind him and he let out a huff as he turned to see Naruto snoozing with a bit of drool coming out of the side of his mouth. "Right, I'll get him..." As the Uchiha began to walk away, Sakura turned back towards the three and smiled, bowing slightly.

"Thanks for your help Lee... And since you're moving freely, I'm guessing you guys have your scrolls?" Neji eyed her warily at her words, but Lee was quick to nod, giving her a thumbs up.

"Yosh! We claimed both scrolls just moments after the test started!" The green beast exclaimed, earning a soft sigh from his teammates.

Tenten waved her hand slightly, "What Lee said... and it looks like you have both your scrolls now too. So what do you..?" She let the question hang in the air and Sakura was quick to oblige on answering.

"I was wondering if we could team up to get to the tower." She held her hand up as Neji began to open his mouth, surprising the other two as she placed her other hand on her hip, staring at him. She didn't know Neji too well, but she knew his type... He was a lot like Sasuke, if she was honest with herself. Lee was a lot like Naruto too... just more intense.

Which meant she knew exactly what he was going to say.

"I know, you don't need our help and we're kind of in the bad position here. But there's someone out there... someone extremely strong. That's why those two got knocked out... Someone named Orochimaru attacked us in the forest. I don't think anyone here can handle him." Neji frowned at his words being predicted, but his eyes widened slightly at the name 'Orochimaru.' Lee just had a confused look on his face and Tenten was visibly shaking from the name.

"Orochimaru attacked you? Why would he be here?" Sakura just shook her head at Tenten's question.

"I've got no idea. I think he was after Sasuke, but..." She rubbed her head slightly. "I don't know, he was pretty cryptic..." She let out a sigh, looking towards Sasuke who was walking over with Naruto walking beside him. The blonde was nursing a large bruise on his head and pouting as he walked towards them with his body hunched over slightly.

"Ow... you didn't have to hit so hard, teme..." The whiskered boy muttered, grumbling softly but for once seeming to tired to yell about it.

"You wouldn't wake up." Was the simple reply as the pair stopped in front of the group. "So, what's the plan?" He seemed... eager to leave, despite having just woken up, but Sakura ignored it.

She gestured towards Team Gai with her left hand, keeping the right on her hip. "Well, if they agree, then we'll head towards the tower with them." Sasuke let out a soft 'hn' with his eyes narrowing slightly.

"We don't need to..."

"We do." She interrupted, holding her finger up and the two boys blinked up at her as she glared at them. "You two are tired, and who knows if we'll run into Orochimaru again? Plus we don't know what those seals he put on you guys does..." Naruto paled slightly at 'seal', glancing down at his stomach while Sasuke palmed the spot on his neck.

She smirked a bit at their expressions and turned back towards Neji. "So? Do you mind?" The boy stared at her for a few more moments before sighing, nodding his head, earning a surprised look from Tenten and a large grin from Lee.

"Fine... But don't slow us down."

Sakura smiled, nodding her head. "Good! We should get going before we attract attention. I'm sure that idiot's attack caused a lot of people to head our way."

Neji nodded his head slightly in response, his Byakugan activating as Lee pumped his fist up into the air. "Yosh! Let us go then, my youthful companions! Our friendship will lead us to victory and to becoming Chunin!" Sakura chuckled a bit nervously as Naruto pumped his own fist into the air, letting out a "Yosh!" in excitement.

Tenten sighed, shaking her head as Neji let out a soft 'hm' with his Byakugan deactivating. "There was someone nearby, but they're out of my vision or left awhile ago. I only saw foot tracks of a group. Let's get going before they return." The group nodded and set off for the trees, heading for the tower.

Sakura was pulled back slightly by Tenten, and the two began to engage in a small conversation, both lamenting about the similarities between their groups. The only real difference was the abilities of the group... Sasuke and Neji brought up the rear and only Sasuke noticed Neji glance back into the clearing they had just left.

"Something wrong?" The Uchiha questioned, wondering if someone was following them by chance.

Neji just smirked, shaking his head. "No, Uchiha. You... just have an interesting teammate." This got him a confused look from Sasuke, but the boy had no intention of going further and he sped up to catch up to the rest of the group to keep Sasuke from inquiring further.

In truth, Neji had not just saw footsteps from another, unseen group... But he also saw the numerous traps that had been laid above and how exactly they had been placed. If not for his Byakugan, it was unlikely he would have actually seen them, but...

There was several traps set up to take out Dosu if he had not agreed to Sakura's demand, and even a rope trap near the entrance of the tree Sasuke and Naruto had been resting in. They were all set up with small ropes that could be cut at any time with a thrown kunai, or by pulling on one of the many ropes hidden under thin piles of dirt.

 _'That girl... She's not strong, nor will she ever be. That is not her fate. But...'_ Neji smirked slightly, staring at Sakura's back as the girl talked with Tenten as the group jumped through the tree branches. _'She has a clever mind, I'll give her that.'_

* * *

The group continued on for a few hours in a rather peaceful manner. The only conflict had been a few words between Naruto and Sasuke regarding who's 'fault' it was that Sakura cut her hair. That had been resolved with a swift fist into the back of Naruto's head and an explanation that she had 'cut it to escape the enemy' so it was her own fault for getting caught.

It got a smirk and admiring gaze from Sasuke too, so it was apparently the 'right' thing to say. Naruto had only pouted, and Lee stated she looked good with short hair too.

Which was flattering, but it took three sentences for him to get to the point.

Now the group was running through the darker portion of the forest, being rather close to the tower now and several small rivers and streams were beginning to grow larger as they came from the source, which was a large river that came from outside the forest and went under the tower in the center.

"We're nearing the end of the second day, which means..." Tenten stated, holding her finger up with a smirk as the group walked along the bottom of the forest now. They had decided that it was too dark to go by tree branches, due to hidden wires and traps that they could run into.

"Which means we're allowed to enter the tower, right?" Sakura finished, smiling at the girl who grinned with a nod.

"Yep! So we're almost done. Which is great, this forest was getting annoying." Sakura nodded her consent while glancing around slowly.

Something seemed... off about the forest they were walking through now. It was... too quiet, and too...

Her eyes widening, Sakura jerked to a stop and held her hand out. "Wait.." The group paused at her order and she frowned as she walked up to the nearest tree, placing her hand on it. "I've... seen this tree before. I noticed it had claw marks on it, probably from a wolf or something..." Naruto scratched his head, frowning towards the girl.

"Eh? There's lots of stuff like that around here... But..." He frowned, seeming to connect the dots as to what Sakura was saying. "They never look or feel exactly the same." No one really wanted to know how he knew that, but in truth Naruto had spent quite a bit of time in the forest while he was younger. Not this particular forest, mind you, but there wasn't much difference between forests.

His pink haired teammate nodded and looked back at the group with a frown. "We're in a Genjutsu."

At her words, Sasuke, Neji, and Tenten all formed the 'release' seal and the air seemed to shimmer around the group before the trees shifted slightly in their vision. They were now in a completely different part of the forest, but not too far from where they thought they were.

"Hn, it seems someone wanted to ambush us..." With his Byakugan springing to life, Neji let out a 'tch' of annoyance. "Clones are starting to form. Get ready." On cue, a large amount of clones began to form on the trees and on the ground, seeming to form slowly with the head forming forest and finishing with the feet.

Each clone appeared to be from the same group, and they were all wearing very similar outfits. The headbands for 'Ame', or the 'Village Hidden in the Rain', was shining on their head and each clone had slightly tall spiky brown hair, with the exception of one set of clones that had their headband keeping their hair down underneath.

Each clone had white bands covering their eyes, though some seemed to have one or two eyes revealed, and gray breathing masks on their mouths. Their outfits were a tan and rather tight looking one piece outfit that was stitched up the center to keep it closed.

There was at least thirty, if not more, clones and they quickly sprung towards the group to attack.

Lee was the first to respond with his fist flying through one and his leg flying through another, but both just turned to water and fell to the ground. "Water clones!" He stated, his fist going through another that tried to attack him.

Neji and Sasuke were in a similar state, both hitting away any that came towards them with Sasuke mostly focusing on kicks and Neji simply poking them twice which made their chakra-held bodies explode from the back.

Sakura clicked her tongue as she stepped beside Tenten who threw a few kunai, nailing five of them in the head and making them disperse. But with each one that fell, another two seemed to form in its place...

"They're just trying to tire us out." Sakura muttered, looking back and forth while dodging a punch from one of the clones and slamming her fist into the clone's gut. _'We need a plan... and fast. The first thing to do is locate the targets...'_ Textbooks. She had practically memorized everything she could back then, and maybe now it would come in handy.

All that really mattered was if she used them correctly... and if anyone actually listened.

Location. Byakugan. "Neji!" The boy turned his gaze towards her slightly as she said his name, casually dodging and destroying another clone as he did. "Can you locate the originals?"

He gave her a slightly annoyed stare and sighed, nodding as he activated his Byakugan again. He had turned it off after the clones appeared, due to the chakra in the air being slightly annoying to deal with... But he'd never tell her that.

After a quick glance left and right, the boy sighed slightly, keeping his voice low so the owner's of the clones could not hear him. "One is a bit above us in the trees, almost directly above my head and far ahead of Lee." Lee had moved quite a bit back, knocking clones out with a single blow, which kept the clones from telling their creators that they had been found out.

Mizu Bunshin (Or Water Clones) were very similar to the Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clones) that could relay information to their creator... But the clones were being taken out too fast to really register any of their voices, and unlike the Kage version, they did not relay information by dying, only through voice. Kage Bunshin, on the other hand, gave their 'experience' to their creator by death.

Neji turned his gaze forward, staring past Tenten in front of him who had spread a scroll open and was using it to create an almost endless supply of kunai and shuriken to throw at the clones. "The other is far past us... And the third is outside my vision." Sakura nodded her head, rubbing her chin thoughtfully as she thought of a plan.

"Hmm... Alright..." She nodded. "Give Tenten directions on the one in front of her. Naruto!" She turned towards the boy, who was on the left side of the group and stumbling slightly at the sudden call of his name as his hand went through one of the many clones.

He turned and gazed at her curiously, "Eh? Yeah, Sakura-Chan?" He seemed... surprised that she called him out and almost a little pale.

 _'Must still be recovering...'_ The pinkette thought to herself before responding, "Make as many clones as you can to fight them off. Neji and Tenten need to focus." The boy grinned and nodded, putting his hands together in his favorite, and most used, seal.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The cry was loud, but the pop of smoke was not even close as three clones formed beside him. He blinked in surprise and Sakura could only stare in slight shock. The boy was known for his almost endless chakra supply and the last time she saw him use that Jutsu, it made nearly a hundred clones perfectly. To only make three...

Something was wrong, very wrong, with Naruto's chakra. _'It must be that seal on his stomach. If only I knew more about it... Well...'_ A change of plan was needed. If Naruto couldn't use a lot of clones, she'd make him use them in a smart way. But how to word it?

Naruto himself seemed visibly upset with the lack of numbers and let out another shout of "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" which formed five clones this time, adding to the remaining three. Naruto was extremely pale now, however, and seemed to be panting slightly. "D... Damn it, what is going on?" He muttered slightly, glaring angrily at the clones who seemed confused as well.

But time was of the essence and Sakura couldn't let him sulk about it too much. "Never mind that, just use all the kunai and shuriken you can with them on clones away from us. Have the rest try to land sneak attacks from behind the clones. Alright?" A sharp nod was his answer and Sakura smiled at him. "We'll figure out what's wrong with your chakra once we're out of danger."

Another nod, but this one Sakura didn't bother watching as she turned and ran towards Lee who had just back handed one of the clones, sending a spray of water onto a nearby tree. "Lee!" He had already sensed her and was glancing back with a warm smile, even as his fist went through another clone. "Toss me up into the trees!"

The 'Green Beast' was surprised by the sudden request, but nodded. "Hai, Sakura-Chan!" He turned towards her, his leg going through three clones as he spun, and cupped his hands low. Sakura jumped as she reached him, placing both of her feet onto his hands.

A moment later, she slightly regretted choosing Lee for this part of the plan as the boy blushed from Sakura being so close to his body... and proceeded to toss her up with all of his strength, rather than a careful amount. This sent the pink haired Kunoichi flying like a rocket up into the trees, breaking through several branches on her way up.

Thankfully, unlike Zaku, she had rather good luck and flew _past_ the thick branches rather than into them. The girl was careful not to make much sound either, despite the screams that wanted to come out as she felt herself fall onto one of the thick upper branches.

She allowed herself a moment to catch her breath as she laid on top of it before shaking her head, moving slowly as she raised up and planted her feet onto the wood below. There were leaves everywhere, making it hard to see, but Sakura had a very clear idea of where she was in regards to everyone else.

 _'Neji said that one was just above him, but far behind Lee. He was probably the one in charge of the Genjutsu.'_ An assumption, but that meant he may toss one at her if she let him.

She just had to make sure not to give him the chance.

Carefully straightening herself, the Kunoichi began to climb slowly across the branches, using her training to stick her hands and feet to trees to keep herself active. It was possible the Ninja up here had heard or seen her being tossed, but she doubted it with how thick the branches and leaves were around here. She could barely make out the sounds of battle from where she was, and she had only seen one flash of a gray outfit underneath her.

 _'No need to think of what if, though. I just need to find him.'_ As if on queue, the girl saw the back of one of the Ame Nin, staring down through an opening in the branches with a kunai clasped in his right hand. She couldn't see his face from here, but she could see his brown spiky hair above his head, along with the slight edge of some sort of mask he was wearing.

Sakura allowed herself a small smirk as she pulled a kunai out from her pouch, moving closer to the boy slowly. As she got in arms reach, the Ninja began to pull his hand back as if he was about to throw the kunai downward.

Not wanting to chance him harming a teammate, Sakura shot forward and gripped his wrist with her left hand and using the force to slam his hand downward, pushing the boy's kunai into the branch near his feet. He let out a surprised gasp as she put the kunai in her own hand up to his neck, staring down at him slightly as her feet rested on a thinner branch right behind his.

Sakura put her head close to his, pushing the kunai closer to his neck as she saw his left hand twitch to act. "Don't even think about it, boy. Dispel the clones and let go of that kunai... Hand us your scroll too, and you can go." She definitely didn't enjoy threatening the boy, but the way he shivered sent a bit of excitement up her spine.

It felt nice to be scaring someone else for a change.

The boy didn't answer her and she frowned slightly, pushing her kunai harder against his neck while her other hand squeezed his wrist. "You can't escape, and I've got no qualms about killing you." A complete lie, of course, but he didn't need to know that. "Just surrender and make it easy on yourself."

After a few moments, the boy slowly nodded and Sakura smiled, feeling him let go of the kunai she forced him to stab into the tree. She yanked his arm up, just in case he tried to grab for it again, and gripped his wrist with her right hand this time, still holding the kunai close to his neck with that same hand.

"Now, down we go..." She gripped his other hand, putting it behind his back and lifting him up to his feet. She blinked a bit as the boy glared back at her with his two eyes clearly visible, which did match one set of the clones underneath. "Dispel your clones too. I know you don't need seals for it."

The boy just glared more and she rolled her eyes slightly. "Going to be difficult..." She huffed and suddenly shrugged, pushing the boy forward with a smile, holding his wrists tightly as she pushed him off the branch and let his feet dangle over the opening he had been staring through before.

Panicking from the sudden loss of a foot hold and his arms being held high above his head, the boy began to thrash around. "W.. What! You crazy bitch, let go! Dammit..!" He glared angrily up at her, but paled with his eyes widening as he stared up at her wide smile.

"Alright."

That was his only warning before Sakura simply let go of his wrists, causing him to yell out in panic as he fell from the tree tops onto the rough ground below...

Right in the middle of a battle field.

But he was a sturdy Ninja and was already pushing himself up before anyone really registered he was there. However, while his strong body could account for an argument with gravity, it could not account for a young pink haired girl to drill her knees into his back.

With a loud yelp of pain, the boy fell onto his face with his eyes closed and all of the clones that appeared as he did began to pop out of existence. Sakura huffed as she got to her feet again, though she quickly began to dig through the man's pouches for his scroll and smiled as she pulled out the opposite scroll that Dosu had given them. This meant they had the Heaven and Earth Scroll and could pass the exam, since the teams all needed both to open the tower.

Orochimaru had... eaten theirs, or had simply tossed it away, so she was glad they weren't going to be held back because of something like that.

The girl gave the battle field a quick look around, noting that Tenten was dragging back the other clone user that only had one eye revealed and his hair covered, while Neji walked beside her. Lee was running up to her with a large grin and Sasuke was supporting Naruto who was very pale and panting heavily as they moved towards Sakura.

Lee was, of course, the first to reach her. "Nice job, Sakura-Chan! Your flames of youth burn brightly! To have taken another one down all on your own..!" Sakura resisted the urge to drill her finger in her ear as the boy yelled beside her and gave him a weak smile instead.

"Ah... Thank you, Lee... I wasn't alone, though. You all helped me a bit." His smile got even wider and brighter at her words. As he opened his mouth to speak, she hastily began to move towards the rest of the group. Naruto leaning on Sasuke was her first target and she frowned as she reached the two, "What happened, Naruto?"

The blonde turned his blue eyes away from the girl, seeming ashamed or about to be sick as he looked at the ground. Sasuke clicked his tongue slightly, glancing down at the boy he was holding onto. "The idiot tried making a bunch of clones after the first few got popped." There was more annoyance than usual in Sasuke's voice, but Sakura pushed it aside as she stepped closer to them.

She hummed staring at Naruto's pale face as his eyes glanced between her and Sasuke, who's annoyed expression seemed to fall into a more neutral one as he noticed Naruto's eye darting around. Sakura smiled to herself at the bit of concern she noted in Sasuke's own gaze, but focused on Naruto as she began to dig through her kunai pouch.

"He's got chakra exhaustion." Sakura announced, causing both boys to arch their eyebrows in surprise. Naruto had _never_ got chakra exhaustion, especially not from forming clones. Sakura, noting their alarm, quickly explained. "It's probably from whatever Orochimaru did to him. We'll have to ask Kakashi-Sensei. But first, eat this." The order was followed up by dropping a red pill into Naruto's hand, who stared at it oddly before his eyes lit up in recognition.

A soldier pill. One of the many ways Ninja over time had learned how to restore chakra to their own bodies, though it was temporary. Not only that, but the method forced chakra out of the body itself, to keep it from being foreign chakra, which meant that taking more than one could be deadly. The body needed chakra in itself to live, after all.

Sakura nodded as Naruto popped it into his mouth, chewing slowly and making a sour face from the bitter taste the pill had. Still, just one bite into the pill seemed to restore the coloring of his skin and he pulled off Sasuke with a brief nod of thanks towards the boy.

"That should last you until we get to the tower." Sakura stated, looking around to see where Team Gai had gone, noting it was too quiet when Lee had been just beside them.

She smiled at them as they were all waiting patiently by the tree that had alerted them to the Genjutsu, with Tenten snipping at Lee for getting a cut on his shoulder. "You shouldn't use any chakra until then, Naruto. I don't know how long that pill will last you."

Naruto nodded again, rubbing at the back of his head. "Sorry, Sakura-Chan. I should have listened to you and waited." Sakura shrugged in response, starting to head towards Team Gai while Sasuke rubbed at his neck.

"It's not a big deal, just be careful. We can't have..." She paused as they reached the other team, noticing Neji staring at her with his eyes slightly narrowed. The pink haired Genin tilted her head slightly at the boy, letting out a "What?" in confusion.

Neji's gaze grew a little harder as he studied the girl, before he glanced back towards her teammates. "It seems we're doing more babysitting work than working together, here." The boy noted, getting a slightly annoyed look from Sasuke, while Naruto just blinked.

Tenten huffed, poking at Neji's arm. "Don't be like that. Sakura took one down, and those two kept me from being smacked around by those clones." Neji sighed slightly, glancing over at his teammate.

"Yes, before one fell over after apparently getting chakra exhaustion and the other clutched his neck and nearly got blind sided." Now the boys of Team 7 were both staring at him, though Sasuke's neutral expression gave nothing away while Naruto rubbed the back of his head slightly. "We're just babysitting at this point."

Lee frowned at his teammate, an action mirrored by Tenten. "You're being most unyouthful, Neji. Why, if not for Sakura-Chan, then we would still..!"

"It's fine, Lee." Sakura suddenly interrupted, speaking up as she stepped in front of the neutral Uchiha who was grabbing at his neck. The white around Sasuke's knuckles alarmed her, as it told her how hard he was gripping his skin, but he showed no pain or anger on his face...

 _' **Which probably means he's pissed.'**_ Sakura's other half noted, which the girl couldn't disagree with. There were faint signs of Naruto being upset as well, but he was hiding it with a grin of embarrassment. _**'It's amazing how many little details you missed before, Pinky.'**_ The Voice teased.

Again, she couldn't disagree. The slight clinching of his teeth, the way his fingers curled each time he scratched at his head... And even the way his eyes were clinched were signs that Naruto was getting very upset. Thankfully, there were also signs of his recovery, as his skin had already regained a healthy shade. His recovery time had always been very swift.

The pink haired Kunoichi cleared her mind as she stared at the harsh pale eyes in front of her... and she slowly bowed slightly. "I'll admit we're relying on you more than you're relying on us. But in truth, I think staying with us is your best course of action if you want to get to the tower quickly." Neji's eyes narrowed slightly and he let out a slight grunt, and Sakura opened her mouth to continue...

But Neji beat her to the punch. "Yes, I know that a larger number of people will keep others from trying to attack us, unless we walk into their trap." Sakura's eyes widen slightly at the boy's observation, surprised that he had figured out what she was going to say. The surprise on her face apparently amused him, as his the corner of his lips turned upwards slightly. "But..."

A slight bit of … competitiveness found its way to Sakura's heart, and she hastily interrupted before he could continue his own thought. "But you feel that we're holding you back more than pushing you forward, with two of us being crippled." Neji blinked once, causing Sakura's own lips to tilt into a grin as she saw the flash of surprise in his eyes.

The other Genin exchanged slightly confused expressions at the competitive sparkle in the eyes of Neji and Sakura, with the irritated feeling of Team 7's boys disappearing as they did. Sasuke even let go of his neck as his anger faded, just as Sakura spoke up again.

"But we haven't held you back yet, Neji-San, so let's keep going together. If we get into a position where saving us wouldn't be a benefit for you, then you have permission to leave us behind. We'll manage." Sakura's words caused a slight smirk to appear on Sasuke's face, while Naruto just scratched his cheek.

Tenten was openly gaping at her fellow Kunoichi, surprised that she would give _permission_ to be abandoned. And Lee...

"I refuse!" The young Green Beast shouted, his fist in the air. "I vowed to protect you, Sakura-Chan! I would never just..."

"Fine." Neji interrupted, uncrossing his arms as Lee turned a harsh gaze towards him. But Neji knew he wouldn't say anything... Not when the boy knew he could take him out with two strikes. "I'll accept that condition. So don't expect to be saved if anything happens." Neji's 'warning' was slightly negated with the bit of respect sparkling in his eye, though it was missed by all but Sakura as he turned away to look back towards the tower.

Sakura just grinned.

* * *

Despite the conflict the group had with Team Gai "babysitting" Team 7, it seemed that just moving together had lowered the conflict rate by a large margin. The Oboro Brothers the group had left back at the "Genjutsu Tree", as Sakura mentally labeled it, had been the only group willing to fight a group of six.

That they actually ran into, at least.

The only other group they had found had been instantly cowed into surrendering under the harsh gaze of two powerful Clan members. Even without the Sharingan or Byakugan active, the idea of them enough sent the team begging to be forgiven for even trying to come close to them.

 _ **'Bunch of cowards.'**_ The Voice had growled out in Sakura's mind. **_'Probably just said that to make their reasoning for leaving not seem so weak, but... Could have at least tried.'_** The rant had not ended there, and caused Sakura a bit of a headache, but she kept it off her face as the group made their way through the forest...

And, finally, they arrived at the tower.

* * *

 _ **Chapter.. End!**_

 _ **There's actually a bit more to the story, but not enough for a full chapter without a lot of work! I decided to just cut it off here. Heck, that's 18 pages anyways!**_

 _ **Honestly, this one was a guilty pleasure. I always loved the potential Sakura had. I hate her canon character with a passion, but she had so much potential that just went to waste. If she just put her temper behind herself and really put in some effort to change... She could have become something great.**_

 _ **But she didn't. So I wrote a story where she did. Or at least part of one.**_

 _ **Now unlike Naruto, in canon and in Tales Of The Kunoichi, Sakura wouldn't be a brawler. She doesn't have much chakra. She doesn't have much of anything, really, except control. She'd have to use her mind more than I make Naruto do so in my main story. Sakura's fighting style would have been careful planning and execution of techniques, or seals, unlike Naruto who runs mostly off instinct.**_

 _ **A more serious Sakura... How would the series change? Would Sakura beat Ino? Would she even**_ **fight** ** _Ino?_**

… _**The answer to that one is yes, sorry for the spoiler.**_

 _ **But how would she do it? And then, how would she handle the monsters she'd go against if she did win? Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Shino... Gaara. Could Sakura have matched up to any of those guys?**_

 _ **Who knows! I do, having the plot up until Shippuden written down for this one in a script, but I'm not saying! Tell me what you thought!**_


	3. LoveBeforeDutyCh1

_**A story about Gaara of the Sand, one of my favorite characters pre and surprisingly even post Shippuden. Though we don't see much of it, he truly went through the most character development in the series. But then when the chapter came out revealing that Yashamaru did not want to do it after all and lied to Gaara's face till the very end...**_

 _ **Inspiration struck.**_

 _ **But sadly, the base idea was all I had. Having Gaara as an MC would be very interesting, especially if he wasn't crazy!, but I think part of me is just too used to handling Naruto for it. I might instinctfully make him more hyper than he needs to be...**_

…

 _ **But as I say that, I've already got several scenes of a more sane Gaara running through my head. Like "Did you just kill that guy!?" "No... I just closed the sand on him so he couldn't breathe. He passed out, but he's alive... although he may not enjoy tight places anymore." Stuff like that. Obviously with more detail, but y'know... No more rambling! Here's!**_

* * *

Love Before Duty

Summary: Yashamaru, the right hand man of the Fourth Kazekage, was known for his ruthless skill in battle and his undying loyalty to the Shinobi Way. There was only one person he could show kindness around and that was to his own blood, his sister Karura. And when given an order to harm one of her children, in order to test the demon implanted within the child.. He chooses love.

Bright rays of sunlight poured down onto a large field of sand, causing the world to glow with a golden light. Wind swept across the ground, sending the small grains flying into a nearby encampment. The encampment held only four large tents, but at least fifteen humans were walking around it, each sporting a large tan cloak to keep the sand and sunlight from hitting their skin.

Many of them were armed with different blades, and none had their faces exposed, though a few had spikes of hair sticking out of the tan wrappings they wore over their heads. One, a man if his large build was any hint, sat down on a large wooden log that had been brought along from another region.

"You sure we should even be here, boss?" The man spoke up, his gruff voice reaching the entire camp, causing most of the members there to turn their heads towards him. His eyes, however, were on a small figure that was looking towards him from the left side of one of their large tents with bright green eyes.

The figure just chuckled softly, and its gender became apparent as the feminine voice spoke out, "Regrets, Yura? I told you we'd have to get out of Fire Country as fast as we could... and going through River country was the safest bet with that damned war going on in Water country. Are you upset about the horse going missing?" The last part was said with a mocking tone, as 'Yura' had been the caretaker of the horse.

But then, upon their entry to Wind Country where they stood now, the horse had broke free of the wagon carrying their belongings and escaped. It was unknown what caused the horse to react that way; the only thing that had occurred before was a rush of wind going across the golden sand.

Yura, his eyes narrowing slightly at his 'boss', grunted slightly and shook his head, "I don't care 'bout the damn horse... We're in a damn desert, and those Shinobi are allied with Fire Country or whatever, ain't they? Won't they just tell 'em we raided that village and send someone after us?" There was a wave of restlessness from the group around from Yura's words, even as the woman laughed.

"It has only been a day." She stated, putting one hand on her hip as she walked up towards Yura. "It's nearly impossible for them to get information around that fast, and we made sure no one survived, right?" She stopped in front of the man, who sighed and nodded slightly.

"Suppose you're right..." He muttered, starting to stand up when the woman in front of him suddenly jerked her hand forward, shoving it straight through the man's chest. His eyes grew wide and blood began to leak from his mouth as he stared up, looking for the woman's warm green eyes...

But all he met was cold violet.

"That's all I needed to hear, really..." 'She' muttered, her hand jerking up and ripping through the man's left shoulder before she spun on her heel, sending metal shuriken from the ground into the necks of three other men that began to reach for their weapons.

They fell without even a cry of pain as the shuriken ripped through their flesh, and two more men fell as they pulled their blades from the holsters on their hips, setting off the wire that had been placed on the hilts of their blades. The wire activated a razor net under the feet of the men, ripping them to shreds and leaving the sand coated with their blood. Only their blades remained some-what intact.

The rest of the men, eight in total, stood around the single woman in the center of their camp. None reached for their blades, after seeing what happened to the last two, and the woman looked back and forth slowly between them. "Surrender, and do not go for your weapons or move from where you are. I have surrounded you in traps." The men stiffened visibly and a few even nodded, scared to even speak.

After a moment of staring at them, the woman nodded slowly, "This is it... Please die." With her words, the men were suddenly ripped apart by blades of wind that tore into them from below, as a large seal was activated with the woman's chakra while the men stood there. They were not even given time to realize they had been tricked.

With their bodies now covering the desert sand, the woman reached up and removed the tan cloth covering her head, showing the fair skin and short sandy blonde hair of a young male. Though his appearance was still rather feminine, he was a well-known male ANBU, at least in the 'The Village Hidden in the Sand.'

The man pulled up a small black radio microphone, which was barely half the size of his own finger. Due to the chakra needed for them to activate, along with how easy it was to intercept the messages, small radio transmissions were usually only used with Jounin to teach Genin positioning from a distance. But they were also used for simple transmissions and messages between merchants... Or secret messages between Shinobi.

Activating the microphone with a small bolt of chakra, the man began to speak as he walked through the red sand, "This is Yashamaru. I assisted some merchants with their luggage, but some of their supplies were lost. Some meat and tomato juice is all across the sand, it'll require cleanup if we don't want some animals crossing the boarder." The man slid the radio into the collar of his cloak as he finished talking, as he expected no answer. The radio he had on his person was one-way only... to prevent a certain man from speaking to him any more than he had to.

Yashamaru sighed to himself as he walked, looking up towards the sun for a moment with a frown as it poured light down onto his skin. _'Gaara will be home soon...'_ He thought to himself, looking towards the distance hills of sand, where his hidden village laid. _'I had best hurry.'_

With that in mind, he vanished... leaving only a camp covered in blood to mark his passing. But even that was soon covered in the shifting sands...

* * *

Gorudo sighed to himself in his large office, pulling at the cloth of the hat on the wooden desk in front of him. As the Fourth Kazekage, the man was extremely busy at almost all periods of the day... and it was not made any easier with the sudden decrease in funds from the Daimyo of Wind Country.

The Daimyo had become upset with Suna, for reasons unknown to anyone. Missions stopped coming in from him, and with that most of their funds were being cut. Not a lot of minor villages sought them out for help, a majority of that went towards Fire Country and Konoha, who were in the center of the land and had more connections than most other villages.

Thankfully, Konoha was only truly allied to Suna, as they were the only village not trying to get something from Konoha. The current Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, was also willing to give Suna any help they needed, and had even suggested asking the Fire Daimyo to find out what happened to the Wind Daimyo's attitude.

With their help alone, Suna was sure to survive at least another ten years without missions from their Daimyo, but... _'But it's not enough, and the Daimyo will do even more harm if I allow Hiruzen to make a move on him. Not to mention future generations...'_ Gorudo thought to himself, his auburn hair being hidden by his blue hat as he placed it onto his head. The large kanji for 'Wind' stuck out on the front of the hat and his dark eyes stared down at the letter written to him by the third Hokage, offering assistance in dealing with the Daimyo.

His eyes slowly moved up to another letter above that one, though this letter was held in a light blue envelope with the symbol for 'Wind', just like his Kage hat, printed on the front. A message from the Council of Suna, asking him once more about the progress of his son, Gaara.

The son who held his darkest sin... And one he could not even look at without regret and guilt tearing away at his heart.

His son held a demon in his head, one Shukaku of the Sand. On one hand, it made him extremely powerful, to the point where even his best Shinobi would be hard pressed to do harm to him due to the automatic sand defense that the boy had in his possession.

But on the other hand, it scared those around him. He was too young to control the demon, and was not even aware of its presence in his body. It was a double edged sword... and it was one the council hoped to control. They were not brave enough to do it themselves, however. They only told the Kazekage that he would be the one to make sure Gaara became the weapon they desired...

A scowl began to form on Gorudo's face from his own thoughts, ' _Is this who I am? A puppet, just like the ones my son Kankuro uses? Powerful, but being held by the strings of those above me? Am I really the...'_ His thought process was interrupted as the door to his office opened, and he bit back a wave of guilt as he stared up at the face of the one who stood there.

The sibling of the Kazekage's late wife, Karura, stood there and as much as Goduro or Yashamaru wished to deny it, the sandy blonde Shinobi was the spitting image of his sister. Yashamaru himself had even tricked Goduro on more than one occasion, pretending to be Karura right up until they began to embrace. The woman herself found it extremely amusing, much to Goduro's embarrassment.

Still, the three were very close. Even after Goduro took upon the mantle of Kage, the three were rarely not seen together. It was only until the birth of Gaara that they had been split apart... in more ways than one. With the council breathing down his neck to push Shukaku into Gaara upon his birth, and a weakened Karura holding on to a thread of life to tell Gaara how much she loved him...

Goduro made the only choice he could at the time... and gave Gaara to Yashamaru.

In a way, it was better. Gaara could benefit more from Yashamaru than he ever could from his own father; the man simply wasn't meant to be a care taker. Even his other children, Temari and Kankuro, were taken care of by his old friend Baki, who had already been chosen as their future instructor when they graduate from the Shinobi Academy. Gaara himself was trained rarely by Goduro, but the man found it hard to do anything with him for longer than an hour.

But giving Gaara away so simply after Karura's death caused a rift between Yashamaru and the Kazekage. Yashamaru refused to look Goduro in the eye... and Goduro himself could hardly stare at Yashamaru's face without being reminded of his late wife.

Clearing his throat to erase some of the awkward silence between them, Yashamaru walked up to the Kazekage's desk, bowing his head respectfully, even as his eyes stared pointedly above Goduro's head. "Reporting from the border patrol, Kazekage-Sama." The cold way 'Kazekage' was said was not lost on Goduro... But he ignored it.

"Continue." He stated simply, his own eyes looking down at his desk, resting his arms on top of his desk as he did so.

"After receiving the message from a border village, I went to investigate and found a group of bandits crossing the boarder. I used a camouflage Jutsu to sneak up on them and scared their horse. While they were distracted, I assassinated the leader and took her place. After that, I assisted them in setting up camp while also setting up traps for them... Fifteen in total, and no survivors. The horse retreated to River Country." Yashamaru stood up straight at the end of his report, staring down at the Kazekage who rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"I see... I'll send word to Konoha about that, it's likely it's the same group that raided a merchant village. The sand should cover the bodies, but the tents and goods will need to be recovered. I'll send a Genin team for that... Maybe they'll learn something." Yashamaru was silent during Goduro's words, only nodding his head at the end.

After a few more moments of silence, Goduro sighed slowly, his dark eyes looking towards his desk once more, hiding his face from Yashamaru's view. "How is Gaara?" It was a simple question, and yet it caused the tension between the two to become much heavier.

"Good..." Was the simple reply, and Yashamaru opened his mouth to say more when a sudden scream from outside the Kazekage's window caught both of their attention.

Yashamaru was the first to react and was already out the window and jumping through the air as Goduro stood up. Knowing Yashamaru was more than enough to deal with any trouble, along with the rest of his ANBU, Goduro simply walked to the window and tossed a single spec of gold dust into the air, forming a nearly untraceable eye while Goduro's left eye closed.

The eye flew through the air quickly and the scene it caused Goduro to frown, as he saw the same image through the eye. Yashamaru was shielding a young girl from Gaara's sand, and by the looks of the wound on Yashamaru's wrist, it was likely the sand didn't enjoy the interference.

Goduro sighed and walked back to his desk, staring down at the papers before him while the other half of his vision was locked on Yashamaru leading his son away to their home.

It was the fourth time Gaara had 'attacked' someone... this month. The boy was a constant threat and no one except Yashamaru and Goduro was close to him, and even the Kazekage was distant, teaching him only the basics of Ninjutsu. His siblings were strangers, although he had heard Temari voicing her concerns multiple times about Gaara, but was often kept back by Baki whenever she tried to approach him.

Thinking of Temari, Goduro couldn't help but smile fondly. The girl was just like her mother; passionate but a bit of a tomboy. Her skill with _**Futon**_ was wonderful and Baki stated it would be a shame to not make her a true master of all Wind Ninjutsu...

Just like her mother.

Kankuro, on the other hand, was like him in many ways. Appearance and attitude, yet he had a strange fondness for puppets after viewing one of Chiyo's demonstrations for the children. The old woman had decided to take Kankuro on to learn the basics after his apparent fascination, though she refused to teach him any further, claiming it was too tiring.

Though Goduro knew it was just opening up more scars for the old woman, who was just getting over her favorite, and only, grandson going on to be one of Suna's criminals for murdering the third Kazekage. Taking care of Kankuro and teaching him the art of puppetry probably made the old woman long for the days where she did the same with Sasori, though she would never admit it.

And then there was Gaara, the ticking time bomb.

It wouldn't be long before the demon either took over Gaara's body, forcing him to obey the rage filled beast of sand... Or until the council jumped onto that beast and tried to control it through the hands of his father. The main issue, however, was not the threat in the distance, but rather how much of a threat the boy was now. It was clear he had no real control over his sand, most likely due to the faulty seal holding Shukaku inside him, yet at the same time it seemed to obey a basic instinct of his will.

If he wanted a glass. He got it. In pieces and on the ground, of course, but he got it. If he wanted someone to stay, the sand would pull them back. Roughly and without mercy, but they would stay. Whether they wanted to or not.

It also protected him instinctively from any threats, which most Ninja found fascinating, yet terrifying. It made assassinations impossible. There had been numerous attempts, some even by the council themselves to "train" the boy into a proper weapon that knew no peace. But they all made the same, bone crushing fate, excluding a few that relied on long ranged techniques that found themselves blocked every time. Even though Gaara himself made no indication of noticing until a knife was already buried in his sand.

As for Gaara himself...

He was timid, lonely, and quiet. He kept to himself, but not because he wanted to be alone. He was just reaching the age where he began to realize that he was not going to be treated like other children. That he was _different_... Goduro knew that if it wasn't for Yashamaru's guidance, the boy would begin to fall into a pit of dark madness that would shape his entire being. This was something the Kazekage knew.

He only hoped the council didn't figure it out themselves.

* * *

 _ **And boom. Chapter end.**_

 _ **That's all I really had. The underlined stuff was what I added in edit. Decided that's going to be my little marking for stuff I added after wards. Tell me what you think of that! They're all things I just write after skimming or reading the stories to make sure there's no major typos or whatever.**_

 _ **But sadly that's all there is for Love Before Duty. It's an idea I'm sure was done before, but I had planned on making Gaara a major focus and that would subtly shift the entirety of the Chunin Exam, wouldn't it? Orochimaru wouldn't go for, or possibly just wouldn't get, Suna's support without Gaara as an asset.. Or maybe he would and force Gaara to go crazy inside Konoha?**_

 _ **What about Naruto? What would he become? Would he stay the same? If one person chooses Love Before Duty... would another choose Duty Before Love?**_

 _ **Who knows!**_

 _ **And this time, I don't even know! I only had small bits planned and nothing major, unlike most of my stories. Anyways! Tell me what you thought!**_

 _ **Going for a minor Ranma/Naruto crossover for the next one, so look forward to that!**_


	4. Nyannichuan Tales! Chapter 1

_**This one kind of came out of no where. Started out as a minor idea that expanded into a full plot line with actual backstory behind it. I had plot lines written up to around the Orochimaru fight in Shippuden, and then everything kind of separated from the original Naruto plot from there. That's kind of how it is for any of my stories, which my profile goes over a bit. I have no use for the 10-tails, Kaguya, or any of that nonsense that showed up at the end of Naruto. So the plot will diverge from any of that happening in any story I write... Uh, but anyways!**_

 _ **The idea behind this story was written years ago, but kind of led up to the creation of "Tales of the Kunoichi." But, names aside, there's actually very little Ranma ½ connection in this story.**_

 _ **Seems people like the Heart Swap idea, which is pretty interesting! I might toss up a second chapter at some point to see what people think of that. But what'll you think of..!**_

Nyannichuan Tales: Return of the … Kunochi!?

Summary: When Naruto started his training trip with Jiraiya, he stated he would not learn how to just control the Kyuubi, but improve his own skills as well. Of course, had he known this would lead to Jiraiya forcing him to sneak into a cultist's den, he might have kept his mouth shut. Maybe then he'd still fit into his own clothes.

* * *

"God dammit." A blonde muttered, glaring at the ground with her sapphire eyes. She had a reason to curse, and it wasn't simply limited to the fact that her hands were chained together behind her back with chakra sapping metal, or that she was only wearing a set of orange pants that looked far too loose, and short, on her body, along with a black tank top that left nothing to the imagination.

It also had nothing to do with the water she was sitting in, or that she was trapped in a room with no signs of escape due to her bound arms and the only exit being a bar gate that she couldn't simply headbutt into oblivion.

No, it was because _she_ was supposed to be a _he_ , a guy that was supposed to become the Hokage of Konoha. Not a girl locked up in a cage like a certain fox she could name.

" **Shut up, Kit, before I let these poisons run through your body."** Said "fox" angrily threatened from within the blonde's mind, which only seemed to irritate the girl more.

"How about _you_ shut up, you overgrown furball!" She yelled aloud, not bothering to simply think the words to the fox in her mind since no one was around to hear her anyways, "This isn't my fault!" And for once, it wasn't. Even the fox, as irritated as it was, couldn't deny that.

There was no way either of them could have known this would happen.

* * *

It had all started nearly one month ago, when a young blonde boy named Naruto Uzumaki left the Village Hidden in the Leaves, with the Toad Sage, Jiraiya. The Sage had intended, at first, to train Naruto in the use of the powerful demon sealed within him in order to combat a group of elite Ninja that were after said demon. That demon was the Kyuubi no Yoko, and that was the main reason Naruto refused Jiraiya's training.

"Not going to happen, Ero-Sennin." The boy proclaimed with his arms crossed, not even five minutes away from the village. "I'm not going to train with the fox's stupid chakra. I need to win on my own. Why would I rely on it?" Jiraiya, taken back by Naruto's sudden refusal, simply stared at the blonde.

It took him a few moments to actually get a response, surprisingly. "Because it's the most powerful tool you have against the Akatsuki. They aren't going to sit around, boy, they'll get you as you are now and the Kyuubi is..." He didn't get to finish, as Naruto interrupted him with a glare.

"A shortcut. I get it, but there _are_ no short cuts. These guys, they're like..." He paused, waving his hand slightly, as if to help organize his thoughts. "They're _good_ , really really good. I mean, you said they had a Bijuu already, right?" A Bijuu, a classification for one of the nine demons that roamed the land, each with a series of tails to show their 'ranking'. The Kyuubi, having nine, was the strongest, of course.

Another reason to not use it, as it was also the most dangerous one to control.

Jiraiya arched his eyebrows and nodded, answering Naruto's question. "The Gobi, yes. What's your point brat?" Seeing Naruto sigh and rub the back of his head only made Jiraiya's eye twitch, as he figured the boy didn't know what he was talking about.

He was proven wrong when Naruto actually spoke up, however. "It's just, they've already got it, right? And I mean, the Kyuubi is stronger than the Gobi but I can't simply let him out... I almost lost it using just one tail, and Gobi had five." Naruto pointed out, earning Jiraiya's and even Kyuubi's attention, though only Kyuubi knew that his "one tail" of chakra was equal to possibly half of Gobi's tails, depending on who was in control.

Still, Naruto wasn't privy to Kyuubi's thoughts and continued talking. "I doubt it didn't go crazy when it was getting taken out either, so even if I was able to control half of Kyuubi's chakra, they'd probably still beat me up or just seal it somehow." After all, it was sealed before, right? "And then I'd just be standing there with no strength of my own and get caught. So... No training the Kyuubi's chakra." Naruto finished, a satisfied smirk on his face as his point was made.

Jiraiya, on the other hand, simply rubbed his chin as he thought about it. Admittedly, he was impressed with his little student as he always figured the boy was a bit slow, sort of like him back in the days.

But that was neither here nor there, this was about training.

He had to admit the kid had a point. The Akatsuki were more than capable of dealing with a Jinchuuriki, even if Naruto was able to control a decent amount of the tails. He doubted he'd ever control all nine, unless the Kyuubi consented to it, and that was probably the only way to really beat a member of the Akatsuki using that power.

But he'd be damned if he'd give up that easily to this brat.

And so began the argument battle between Jiraiya and Naruto, which took three days to complete. In those three days, however, Naruto gained far more information than he had if they had instantly gone off to learn the Kyuubi's chakra.

For one, he learned how to get out of Genjutsu with force, and a few more subtle ways. It was on the first day that Jiraiya taught him this, as he stated he wanted to get it out of the way before anything else, even the Kyuubi. The most dangerous opponent Naruto had, that they knew of at least, used Genjutsu like they were going out of style, after all.

The second thing that Naruto learned was how to form a _**Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere)**_ with one hand, without the help of his clones. He learned it completely on his own and on accident, having realized that the reason he needed a clone to help him in the first place was because he was simply adding too much power for him to focus on spinning it at the same time. This did lessen the damage a bit, but he figured if he got the right spin speed he could train himself to even out the power.

And the third thing he learned was that the _**Kage Bunshin Jutsu (Shadow Clone)**_ was the most useful Jutsu he could ever have. He wasn't sure how he didn't realize it before, but the fact that he remembered everything the clone did could not be ignored at all. Jiraiya was actually surprised at Naruto's revelation, as he had never bothered researching the Jutsu since he didn't really use clones. He was more of a straight out fighter than someone who swarmed his enemies and he relied more on his frogs and illusions for spying.

Still, it opened a million possibilities and that factor alone, or at least the only one Jiraiya was going to admit to, caused Jiraiya to finally relent to Naruto's demands.

"Fine." He had said with a frown on his face, staring down at Naruto who was grinning like a mad man due to his discovery of the Shadow Clone's secret. "I'll train you to be the best, without Kyuubi's chakra. But be warned... I'll ride your ass so hard into the ground, you won't be able to shit without gaining muscle." A blunt way of putting it, but it was more or less the truth.

Jiraiya worked Naruto _hard_. He forced that clone technique to work to it's maximum, forcing Naruto to learn techniques that he should have learned in the academy, along with forcing his clones to read books about the world and it's history. It was met with a lot of complaints from the clones at first, until Naruto, the original, was forced to work as well.

Climbing a mountain with one hand tied behind your back without the use of chakra was not something the clones wanted to go through, even if they'd know how it felt the next time they were summoned.

It took about a week for Naruto to master the cliff climbing, and another three days to do it with his other hand. This allowed Naruto to focus more on his hands, giving him more control over his hand seals and _**Rasengan**_ **.** It also left Naruto excited for more, despite his body screaming at him in pain.

All that time alone also gave Naruto time to think, mostly about what to get Jiraiya to teach him next, which led to Naruto's greatest mistake and his greatest success. Thinking about training had him thinking about Jiraiya, which included what the man had shown him to be capable of.

"Hey, Ero-Sennin, you're like... a spy right?" Naruto asked as he took a bite out of the rabbit they had just cooked, being far out into the forest in the Land of Fire.

Jiraiya looked up from his own meal, using the bone to pick at his teeth. "Yeah? I run the biggest spy network in the world." The Sage grinned to himself a bit. "I've got clients from here to Iwa, from Kumo to Mizu..." Naruto rolled his eyes slightly as Jiraiya bragged and decided to get straight to the point.

"Teach me how to be sneaky then. Spies are sneaky right?" That got Jiraiya's attention and he instantly started to laugh. Loudly. "Hey what!? I can be sneaky!" Naruto shouted, getting to his feet as he figured what Jiraiya was laughing at.

Jiraiya just continued to laugh, making Naruto glare and twitch angrily. It was a few moments before he calmed down enough to stare at Naruto, a grin on his face. "You? Sneaky? Get real, Naruto. You're a brawler, a real room clearer. Not to mention you always wear that orange outfit, how can you sneak around in that?" Of course, Jiraiya was mostly pressing buttons now. He was able to sneak around in his bright red outfit without anyone catching him, so long as he didn't let his guard down.

"Oh yeah!?" Naruto snapped, glaring at the man who actually blinked at the sudden anger. Naruto was insulted, and he had the right to be. He had hidden himself more times than he could count in Konoha whenever he pulled his pranks or simply hid from people so they didn't glare at him. Being told he couldn't be sneaky, especially in the same outfit he used to paint the Hokage Monument, was crossing the line. "I'll show you! Next town! I'll hide and I bet you won't be able to find me." The blonde wagered, still glaring at the white-haired Sage.

Grinning, Jiraiya nodded his consent. "Fine. If I can't find you by the end of the day, I'll teach you how to hide better and some techniques. If I do find you, you drop it." Jiraiya grinned further at the thought. How hard could finding Naruto be?

Well, apparently it was extremely hard, at least in the time frame he was given.

He did decide to take it easy on the boy, keeping his sensing techniques and frogs out of the search, but he had to admit the boy was decent at blending in. He searched the alleyways, jumped from roof to roof, transformed himself into someone else and walked around... But none of those things worked.

It wasn't until midnight that Naruto reappeared for him to find, leaning up against a building just as Jiraiya was about to walk past it. Naruto grinned as the Sage got closer, seeing the bit of respect in his eyes. "So? I told you I could hide." The blonde said with a grin.

Jiraiya snorted but nodded. "Alright... And as promised, I'll train you... Tomorrow." Naruto nodded and they both began to walk towards the hotel in town for a decent night's rest. "So how did you hide from me, boy?" Jiraiya questioned with a curious tone, crossing his arms as he glanced down towards the blonde Jinchuuriki.

Naruto just grinned, putting his finger up to his lips. "That... is a secret." Jiraiya rolled his eyes slightly as they entered the inn, but didn't press the matter. In actuality, Naruto didn't hide as well as Jiraiya had thought. Had the man used any sensing techniques, he probably would have found Naruto quickly, or at least a fake. A good number of people were fakes, created by Naruto's clones, and Naruto himself was disguised as a man sitting in a bar with two transformed clones, making idle chatter as they enjoyed their meal. Jiraiya had noticed them, but dismissed them almost immediately.

The next day, Jiraiya kept to his promise and began to teach Naruto techniques to blend in and hide effectively, even if the blonde already knew some. This led to Jiraiya and Naruto's greatest mistake, as he decided to test the boy by sending him to infiltrate a large castle-like building that was run by a rather famous cult.

The cult was simply named "The Musk" and they were more like a rogue faction than a cult, but they were run by civilians and highly praised a Kami, but no one knew what Kami it was since The Musk kept to themselves.

Which was why Naruto's assignment was to blend into the cult and figure out what exactly they praised. Of course, had Jiraiya known the answer himself, or at least what the people of The Musk truly were, he wouldn't have sent Naruto in there. Not alone, at least.

At first it was easy for Naruto to Henge himself into a villager and simply walk inside, as The Musk didn't mind people simply visiting them. The inside of the castle was rather lush with furniture and the bottom floor even had a large bar set up in the corner for anyone who wanted drinks.

The Musk themselves looked to be made of many women and men, mostly women, all wearing black cloaks with the hoods drawn up to hide their faces. There were also many villagers, also mostly women, that were standing or sitting around and making small talk with the cultists while enjoying the cheap drinks.

Naruto had sat at the bar, glancing around and listening in on any conversations going on while sipping the water the bar keep gave him. It was an easy job, at first, but he didn't get any information on what Kami The Musk worshiped, which led to him walking around the room to see if he could pick up on anything at all.

So focused on his job, he didn't notice one of the cultist pulling out a syringe until it was too late, resulting in the needle being jabbed into his neck with it's contents being poured inside him. This caused his henge to drop, just as his body dropped to the ground.

Normally such a poison wouldn't work on him, due to Kyuubi's constant influence, but this poison was meant to knock people out instantly... All it did to Naruto was paralyze him and make it extremely hard to focus.

It wasn't until cold water washed over his body that he was able to hear what was going on around him again, though his body was still sluggish in responding to his commands. "Oh gods above!" Someone yelled, making Naruto wince at how loud it was in his hazy mind.

It was obviously a man, but it didn't sound familiar at all to the blonde. "She has been blessed by the gods! Truly a miracle of the Nyannichuan!" There were cheers and Naruto slowly opened his eyes, making out black blurs as water dripped down his hair onto his face.

A larger blur appeared in front of Naruto, blocking his vision just as it began to clear, allowing him to see one dark green eye staring into his blue ones. "A Fox wormed its way into our little home, hoping to steal our secrets..." The owner of those eyes shouted, turning back towards the group gathered. Naruto was thankful he had moved away, because he seriously had rotten breath. "But behold!"

He shouted again, gripping Naruto's head and moving it side to side. Naruto growled in annoyance but found he couldn't slap his hands away as the blonde's wrists were bound by thick chains and being held above his head. "She is now one of us. A Vixen in every sense of the word!" There were cheers, but Naruto ignored them, starting to glance around as his mind cleared.

He was suspended in the air by the chains wrapped around his wrists and he could see water below him, most likely what they dipped him in to get him soaked. There were at least fifty people in the room, not counting the one yelling beside him, and there was a large door in the back, past all of them.

Naruto grunted to himself, trying to pull apart the chains so he could make hand seals, but his action was not lost on the man beside him, who turned towards him with a knowing smile.

"So eager to run, aren't you Vixen?" The man questioned and for a moment Naruto wondered what the hell he was talking about, but found he couldn't voice his annoyance, as his throat was still recovering. "You are strong." He continued, rubbing his chin thoughtfully now. "It should have been hours before the Gods allowed you to wake... But no matter... We have ways of dealing with... strong ones." And with that, Naruto was taken down from his suspension by an unseen force and thrown onto the ground beside the water.

Naruto's first instinct was to get up and run, but a syringe was stabbed into his arm, followed by two more, and he could feel his body becoming weaker and his mind becoming hazier. Someone grabbed his chains and began to drag him across the ground, only allowing Naruto to stand when they began to descend down a long stairway.

This led to Naruto's current setting, being chained up in a room with his rear stuck in the water on the ground and his body being changed to that of a girl's.

Naruto growled to _her_ self, glaring at the reflection in the water. She could tell it was still _his_ body, if the whisker marks were any indication, but instead of a slightly round boy's face, she now had a heart shaped face with bright sapphire eyes, rather than the normal dark blue she was used to seeing. Her hair was different as well, as it now reached down to the middle of her back and seemed to have a red tint to it. The only obvious red was at her bangs, which were almost completely red, but normally they would be held up by the goggles she wore since Jiraiya insisted on keeping the headband off.

Now the goggles hung around her neck, seeming to have slipped off when her face became smaller. It seemed that her face, arms, and legs all became... smaller, but not necessarily shorter. In fact, Naruto was sure she had actually gotten taller than before, since her pants had definitely reached her feet before hand, but now they rested above her knees and her top was exposing her stomach. Besides that, there was a noticeable difference in Naruto's chest area, which now had two large breasts clearly visible through her wet shirt.

Which was Naruto's primary annoyance.

 _'I swear to Kami if Ero-Sennin oogles me I'm going to end him...'_ The 'strawberry-blonde' thought to herself in annoyance, having already found it disgusting when the man drooled over the _**Oiroke No Jutsu (Sexy Technique)**_ _._ Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, the girl turned her attention to her fellow 'prisoner'. "Is there anyway to undo this female thing, fox?" Her question brought a growl from the 'fox', but she just blinked calmly despite it's obvious anger.

Normally the fox would just take a jab at Naruto's weakness, instead of answering any question, but that had actually gotten pretty boring to do. Not because it was easy to do, but because Naruto ignored it. Literally. The boy, or girl now, simply acted like nothing was said whenever the Kyuubi insulted the blonde. It had been this way since the battle at the Valley of End, which led to Kyuubi's growing boredom with it. What was the point of insulting someone if they just ignored you?

So, instead of snipping at the brat for bothering it, it answered her question. " **No. Not until the poison is out, at least, and then I might be able to do something. But no promises.** " That wasn't what she wanted to hear, but she nodded her consent, knowing the fox could see it.

"Alright, cool." The blonde shrugged her shoulders, rolling them soon after to get some feeling back in them. "How long?"

" **Five minutes."**

Five minutes? She could wait that long. Time to undo the chains in the mean time...

* * *

It had been an hour or so since he sent the kid in and Jiraiya was getting more and more irritable as time went on. The kid was supposed to have an easy job, even he knew the answer of what Kami they worshiped from the first time he came here years ago. So what was taking the kid so long?

Well, it was up to him to check.

Rising up to his feet, Jiraiya stepped over the log that he had used as a seat and made his way to the large castle looming in the distance. The outside of the castle was about half the size as the Hokage Tower, but a bit wider with four tall towers. There was also a moat surrounding the castle, but it had long since dried up and been refilled with a large amount of dirt. The gate to the castle was laying on the ground, covering the dirt that would normally be in the way.

Making his way inside, Jiraiya activated his cloaking Jutsu just before he fell into sight, allowing him to walk in without anyone noticing. There didn't seem to be many people in the main room, other than a few villagers that were happily enjoying their drinks. Sending out a pulse of chakra, Jiraiya's eyes widened as he felt the massive reserves of his student below his feet, but it was far lower than it should have been.

The Sage felt his anger grow as he made his way through the castle and he narrowed his eyes as he descended down a set of stairs, still not seeing any of the cultists on his way.

He only hoped Naruto was alright.

* * *

Naruto was anything _but_ alright.

Instead of being on her rear trying to undo the binds, she was now on her back with a man towering over her, glaring down at her form as she stared up at him with a bored expression. "I'll ask you again, little fox." The man spat, his dirty brown eyes and hair taking up most of her vision and the robes he was wearing made it obvious he was one of the Musk. "Where do you come from?"

That's what he wanted to know? As if she would say. Information was key to Ninjas, even Naruto knew that much, and it wasn't like she owed these guys any favors.

Instead of answering, she simply wormed her hands behind her back slowly, so as to not alert him to her plan. _'Have to keep him talking though or he'll notice...'_ She thought to herself, turning her head with a faint blush on her cheeks as she fell into her role. "Why, interested in a girl like me? Shouldn't we go on a date first?"

The man twitched and Naruto resisted the urge to smirk. She was sure the man knew she was supposed to be a man as well and suddenly acting like a girl probably threw him off his game. Luckily, Naruto had a lot of practice acting like a girl on the days he would wander the village in his _**Oiroke no Jutsu**_. It was one of his favorite pass times since it was so amusing to do.

This man, however, seemed immune to her charms and just kicked her in the side, causing the strawberry-blonde to grunt in annoyance. It hurt more than it should have, but it was still just a light tap. "Don't play games with me. We know you're from a village, your energy is far too high not to be... Not to mention your little partner." Naruto rolled her eyes slightly, earning another kick from the man.

Geez, when would the Kyuubi be done so she could kick this guy's ass?

As if on cue, the fox growled in her mind, **"Done, brat. I'm resting now."** Naruto grinned at the words and pulled hard at the chains binding her, sliding out of the loops.

"Alright!" She yelled out as she gripped the man's shoulders who had just been stumbling back in panic. Grinning at him, she tightened her grip as he feebly tried to punch at her arms to free himself. "Next time, be sure to treat a girl to a nice dinner before you try to tie her up." The blonde joked, spinning the man around and throwing him into the wall behind her. There was an audible _crack_ as he hit the wall and fell to the ground.

He was still breathing, but she doubted he'd get up after that. Turning around, she made her way to the exit of her cage, only to pause as Jiraiya suddenly appeared in front of her, holding her hands up defensively before she realized who it was. "Oh, Ero-Sennin. Took you long enough." The blonde grinned, jerking her thumb back towards the cell. "Already saved myself." With the Kyuubi's help, of course, but that was almost a given.

Jiraiya didn't even seem to register her words as he just stared at her with his eyes getting wider by the second. Her eye twitched slightly and she sighed, placing her hands over her chest to cover up her wet shirt. This seemed to only make his eyes widen further and she could feel her irritation starting to boil under her skin. "Hey! Pervert! Stop staring at me and talk, or I'll tell Baa-chan you stole her..!"

His hands were over his mouth before she even finished the sentence and she grinned against his hand as he looked down at her with a panicked expression. "D... Don't you even joke about that. She'd kill me! And..." He stepped back, frowning and staring at her with his hand running through his hair. "Why are you using that Jutsu again? Not that I mind, heheh, but isn't she usually naked?"

The _**Oiroke no Jutsu**_ did offer some modesty with smoke, but Naruto did usually make her naked. A thin layer of smoke was more enticing than clothing, after all, although Jiraiya wasn't aware Naruto used a clothed version of the Jutsu as well.

Naruto let out a huff, shaking her head as she put one arm across her chest, hiding them a bit from Jiraiya's view while her left hand reached up and waved in the air dismissively. "This isn't a Jutsu, or at least not mine. Some guys shoved some poison stuff in me and then..." She paused, trying to recall just what exactly had happened.

"I got poisoned, I think, from behind... without warning and then I woke up in chains." She rubbed her chin slightly. "Then I .. was hung upside down and dipped into this big pool of water. I don't think it was part of the main room either, since I don't recall seeing it before I woke up... And then I felt more needles pushed in me, then I woke up here." She nodded her head, staring up at Jiraiya now... although she was almost eye level with him.

Which actually felt really nice, not that she'd admit it out loud.

There was a brief moment of silence as Jiraiya considered his options, rubbing his chin and humming out loud. But eventually he shook his head, staring at Naruto with a frown. "Sorry, but we'll have to figure that out later. We should get out of here, if we can." Naruto clicked her tongue slightly in annoyance and pushed past Jiraiya, lowering her arm to her side now that she had her back to him.

"Those guys have some explaining to do, Ero-Sennin! I'm not going to just walk out after they did all that. What if they do it to someone else?" She glanced over her shoulder towards him, watching him sigh and scratch the side of his head.

She had a point. He couldn't really let someone that dangerous just hang around here. "Fine, fine... We'll take out their boss and whatever thing they put you in. Maybe it'll give us some answers too as to why you're like that now." Naruto nodded her head in consent and the two quickly began to sprint forward, though Naruto let out a huff of annoyance as they began to ascend the stairs.

"Why the hell are these things so bouncy?!"

* * *

Floors above where Jiraiya and Naruto had met sat the very same man who had dipped Naruto into the pool that changed _his_ fate.

His name was Sir Isaac, although he preferred to be called _Herb_ in honor of those that came before him. In the society of the Musk, all of the leaders were considered to be 'Prince' or 'King.' As his father had not gave him the title himself, Isaac was still considered a 'Prince' and thus was given the name Herb in honor of the original Musk Prince.

But that didn't mean he honored the Prince's actual spirit.

While the Musk had been honorable and only used the pool as a tool, the 'new' Musk were simply fanatics, basking in awe of an ancient society that had long since past. Only their scrolls had survived, and it led to the creation of the 'New' Musk.

A Musk who was devoted to a certain Goddess, the Goddess of Love, Creation, and...

Change.

Or at least, that's what they told everyone.

But one look at Isaac would tell you the truth, the truth that no one really wanted to know.

With his left eye tilting to the side as his right stared forward towards the large wooden doors as he sat in his comfortable throne in his one room. A woman was laying to his left with blood dripping from her neck and a shocked look on her face, while on his right sat a small bowl put on a pedestal, full of shining water...

Which was mirrored by the massive pool of water that was behind him. The pool had a large hook above it which was controlled by a spiral of chains on the walls, which allowed the Musk to dip people into the pool by hanging them on the hook with different chains... It also kept them from dipping into the pool themselves, lest they be affected by the same disease that had attacked Isaac...

Whose form was hidden by a dark red robe that covered a majority of his body, including his head that shined slightly underneath it from the dim light coming from the many torches around the room. The robe just had two gold tassels that hung down the front of his chest as the only difference in its dark red color.

But it was his face, his expression, of twisted happiness which seemed to be unable to have any other expression that really caught someone's attention. His left eye, as said before, was gazing lazily to his left, scanning the wall for nothing, yet everything. A large lightning-bolt like scar also went down this eye, starting from above the eye of course and ending near the middle of his left cheek.

That was the very face that twisted into a somehow _happier_ expression as the door in front of him exploded outward, sending a few bits of wood flying past him and into the pool behind. No one noticed the _hiss_ that escaped the waters as the door's explosion drowned the sound out, but what they _did_ notice was the forms of Jiraiya and Naruto walking into the room with several knocked out people in dark red cloaks in a pile behind them.

Isaac, or rather, Herb was already to his feet before the smoke even had a chance to clear. "Welcome, oh Vixen! You have escaped your binds, as it was foretold, and you have come here to abide by the laws of our Goddess! For you are the Chosen!" His arms were out stretched and there was a hint of a squeak to his voice for every other word he said, as if air was having trouble escaping his throat.

But none of that was important to Naruto as she jabbed her finger towards him, one hand on her hip as her large chest stuck out against her own dark red robes. She had adopted one of the outfits a woman was wearing after getting upset with her bouncing chest and troublesome outfit. Now she even had a bra on, which had taken a clone to put on, but it did pinch slightly. Probably not her size.

"Can it!" She shouted out, glaring fiercely at the man who just grinned down at her. He was slightly 'above' her, due to a few steps leading up to his throne and the pool behind him, though it also kept the two Ninja from noticing the fallen woman to the man's left. "Give me back my real body, you stupid robe wearing... uh... bald guy!"

A soft clap brought her attention towards the white haired man beside her who had a flat expression on his face as he clapped slowly. "Shut it! You come up with a better insult!" She snapped out, blushing in embarrassment before turning her gaze back towards Isaac. "Now give me back my body!"

Herb simply laughed, keeping his hands out stretched towards the two. "Do you not see, oh Vixen? You have been chosen! You are _the_ Chosen! By our Goddess, you have been blessed with a body far greater than any one could imagine. Do you believe these waters to simply change the form of those who touch it? Nay!" With a slight grunt, he reached down and gripped the woman that was laying to his side, pulling her up by her hair.

She was wearing the same robes as all the cultist wore and her hair was a dark red, but her blue eyes were dull and lifeless. She looked no older than Naruto, who was around fourteen now, and she had a thick cut across her neck which was most likely what ended her life.

"W... What the hell did you do? Isn't she one of you!?" Naruto shouted, her irritation sparking in her brain which stirred the Kyuubi, allowing him to also view what she did.

Jiraiya was also visibly upset with his eyes narrowing and his fists clenching at his sides, but he didn't try to stop the man. She was already dead, so there was no one to save... But he'd be sure to punch that guy as soon as he had the chance.

Herb simply continued to smile, shaking his head side to side. "Nonono~ She is merely one of the many who visit us, wishing to know our secrets... Wishing to hear the voice of our Goddess! We offered her a chance, a chance to prove herself..." He made a 'cut' motion across his neck with his hand. "But she could not handle the pain."

"The... pain?" Naruto muttered, watching as Herb picked up the bowl resting beside his throne, holding it up in the air for a moment.

"Yes! The pain of accepting our Goddess. Behold!" With that, he poured the water onto the woman as he held her, but he poured it on her chest, keeping his hand from getting wet. A loud _hiss_ began to echo through the room as her clothing was burned off, revealing her chest... which was also quickly beginning to burn and melt.

Both Ninja could only stare in shock as the woman continued to melt away until nothing was left but a small puddle on the ground. Even the blood was gone, leaving only a bit of water that dripped down the stairs slowly before seeming to evaporate.

Herb smiled at their expressions, not that he is own expression could change, and placed the bowl back onto his pedestal. "Do you see? This water... This water was cursed by our Goddess! Only those chosen may use it's power... and even less are able to embrace it like yourself!" He placed his hands into the air again, staring down at the two. "But you have! You have embraced the gift best-"

A loud _clang_ ran through the air, interrupting Herb's speech as a kunai seemingly bounced off the air in front of him, thrown by an irritated Naruto who was glaring at him fiercely. "I have embraced... nothing! You killed her because she didn't turn into a girl or something? She already was one, you weirdo!" Another kunai flew out of her hand but seemed to just be pushed aside before it could reach Herb's face.

The man chuckled softly, shaking his hand and head slowly... Dismissively. "Nono~ You misunderstand. The pool changes the shape of the one that enters it, but..! Only the Chosen may survive the change. Your partner, oh Vixen, allowed you to not only survive the change... But make it complete. Our Goddess's divine energy is now within your veins... You are... in almost every meaning of the word, the Goddess Reincarnate!" Another clang echoed through the room, but this time it was Jiraiya who threw it, humming quietly to himself.

"Some sort of wind manipulation..?" He muttered, curious as to what was defending the man than what exactly he was saying. Although this _Divine Energy_ was rather interesting...

Naruto growled beside the Sage, pointing up at Herb in annoyance. "I've got no interest in any of that! I'm just here to beat you up... and blow up that pool behind you!" For the first time, a flash of... irritation flashed across Herb's face before he simply put his hands behind his back.

"I will not allow either of those things, oh Vixen. For you see.. I too have been gifted by the Goddess. She has blessed me with the power to defend her waters for all time..." He blinked, though only with his right eye, as Naruto suddenly appeared in front of him with her fist slamming into the air in front of his face.

A feral grin was on her face as the force of her attack blasted air back behind herself, though it did not even make Herb flinch. A heavy force seemed to slam into her side, but she twisted in the air as it threw her and slammed her feet against the wall, growling. "Not used to being so tall.. But anyways..."

With a grunt, she pushed herself off the wall and straight into the man's invisible shield once again. She growled with her palm opening up, letting Herb see the air and chakra starting to spiral in her palm as she grinned down at him. " _ **Rasengan**_ _!_ " She yelled out, grinning as she felt herself going forward slightly as she pushed through his shield... She was eager to punch him in his smiling face.

But Herb just continued to smile and she felt another heavy blow against her side, sending her spiraling back down beside Jiraiya with a small crash. Huffing, she got up to her feet and brushed her robe down. "I hate this body. It's stronger, but I'm not used to it at all!" She pulled at her robe a bit. "Plus this thing is just so restrictive."

"Could always take it off." Jiraiya suggested, starting to fly through seals with a grin.

"And let two old guys stare at my body? No thanks~ Even if it's not really my body, I've got some modesty!" With that, she jumped to the side and tossed three kunai towards Herb's right side while Jiraiya pulled his head back and then forward, shooting a large stream of flame towards Herb's body.

Neither attacks hit or even got close to hitting the man who simply smiled, chuckling lowly as flames whipped around his form. "You cannot get past the gift the Goddess gave me. Only the Goddess herself can even begin to grasp my power."

Jiraiya frowned, starting to go through seals again. There was... _meaning_ to what Herb had been saying up until now. Goddess this, Goddess that... But he had no idea what any of that meant.

But Jiraiya wasn't the only one to notice.

The Kyuubi had also noticed the mad man's words, but unlike Jiraiya, he knew the meaning. He knew what was going on, because he knew things Jiraiya didn't. Such as the existence of many Gods and Goddesses that went before and after the birth of many he knew now.

Which … is why he knew exactly what the man was trying to say. Which led him to cause Naruto to pause before charging in again, as the giant fox spoke in her mind.

" **Brat, wait.** " He growled lowly, feeling the girl stop mid step.

 _'What is it now? I'm busy!'_ Her irritation was rather annoying, especially since it was causing his chakra to want to escape the cage and support her. But he couldn't let it do that, not yet.

The giant fox growled softly in her mind instead, knowing that time was of the essence. " **Listen to me... This man is correct, in a way.** " The fox could _feel_ the confusion coming off her in waves, but he pressed forward to explain. " **You received a new type of energy... Chakra... in your system after you became a female. It's most likely because of that pool reacting with my chakra. I will be channeling it and my own chakra into you, perhaps it can allow you to defeat his barrier.** "

Naruto grinned, nodding her head as she leaned back, crossing her arms. _'Alright! Thanks furball. I owe you one.'_

Her grin fell at his next words, " **Oh, trust me. You won't. This is going to hurt, and it's going to rely on you keep your sanity. Stay alert.** "

The two bright blue eyes blinked curiously before narrowing in confusion. "Stay alert, for whaaaaaahhh...!" A sudden spike of pain and a loud yelp brought attention to her as she fell to her knees, clutching her head as white and red chakra began to pour out of her.

It was like two beasts suddenly started fighting right behind her eyes, with her brain meeting in the middle to referee the fight. It was extremely painful and made her vision swim with black and white while a ringing sound rendering her deaf.

"Naruto!" Or maybe not so deaf. That was definitely Jiraiya and she could feel his hands resting on her shoulders, shaking her. "What's wrong? Naruto! Talk to me!"

"V.. Very painfuuul..!" Was all she could get out, though her eye twitched as she heard Herb's annoying laugh again.

"It seems you have finally adapted! Soon your body and mind will belong to the Goddess!" Jiraiya growled at Herb's bothersome yelling, tossing several kunai towards the man that just bounced off uselessly in the air.

But his lack of attention caused him to be shoved roughly to the side as thick red chakra began to spiral out of Naruto's body, forming a single tail behind her and two large ears on top of her head. The form soon completed the shape, forming a large fox over top of Naruto's form, just as it had done when she had fought Sasuke at the Valley of End.

But the major difference, excluding the gender of course, was that only one of Naruto's eyes, the right one, was bright crimson and slitted to indicate the Kyuubi's influence. The left eye was still a bright sapphire but with the center and the area around the iris glowing a bright white.

Naruto frowned as she slowly stood up, panting slightly and holding her head with one hand. "Son of a bitch that hurt." She muttered, rubbing at her eyes and blinking as she lowered her hand again, staring at the large claws that her nails had became, along with the red aura around her body. "What... this is..?"

" **The same form I gave you in your fight with the Uchiha. But this is different... You can see it now, can't you? The beast behind that man.** " Naruto looked up towards Herb at the Kyuubi's words, letting out a surprised gasp.

Behind the man was not simply wind, but a twisted upper body of a man. There was no head, but large shoulders and arms that seemed to come out of the pool from behind Herb. Even with her new vision, which made everything rather shiny, it seemed that the form was still transparent as she could see the wall behind it.

"W.. What the hell is that supposed to be?" She took a small step back, her chakra aura bubbling and hissing as she did.

"What? You can see it?" That was Jiraiya, again. He had managed to free himself from his spot on the wall where Naruto's explosion of energy had sent him. He was brushing a few rocks off his shoulders as she looked over at him.

"It's a guy! Like... a guy with no head. It's not wind, it's..."

"A spirit!" It was Herb that interrupted and finished her sentence, and the man smiled wickedly down at her. "A spirit that defends this pool and its caretaker, which is myself. There is no way to defeat it... But enough about that." He flicked his wrist slightly. "Why do you still rely on your partner, oh Chosen Vixen? You have been given great power by our Goddess, you do not need that foolish and awful demon to assist you any longer." She blinked up at him as he held his hand out towards her.

"That demon is merely a tool, a tool you must cast aside for the greater good. He is worthless, as all demon kind is, especially in the eyes of our Goddess. Cast aside your partner, oh Chosen one, and become the Sage we have all believed in!" His smile was even larger now and his left eye was twitching up and down rapidly, trying to desperately look at her even though it seemed to be locked in which direction it was looking.

Meanwhile, Naruto could _feel_ the Kyuubi growling softly in her mind and she couldn't help but smile to herself, staring at Herb with a small smirk on her face. Jiraiya was simply staring at her, waiting for her answer, since he knew the boy-turned-girl resented the Kyuubi's presence inside her body. The young boy 'she' was in the past had been neglected for a long period of time in her life... It's more than likely she hated the fox, after all.

"Partner, huh? That's a good word for it." Jiraiya jerked back slightly at her words, blinking as she started to step slowly towards the still smiling Herb. "He's been with me all this time. All my life, really. Been looking out for me, even if it was only for his own safety." She was at the stairs now, staring at him as a second tail began to form beside the first behind her.

"He's arrogant, sadistic, insults me too often, and he snores." She grinned as she felt the fox growl in her mind but she wasn't done, and didn't let the snicker from Jiraiya stop her either. "He... is a total dick. But..." She held her hand up, nearly touching Herb's outstretched hand before she flicked her middle finger upwards, rather than taking his hand, causing the man's eye to twitch slightly.

"He's my partner, and I'm not going to let a bald tool like you insult him like that. Demon.. Goddess, that doesn't matter. He's my friend, and I plan on getting rid of that hatred inside him as soon as I can." The growling in her head stopped, but she let out her own growl to replace it, with her left eye still being bright white and sapphire, but the sapphire had straightened into a slit, much like her right.

White chakra began to sink into the second tail that had formed, turning it into a dull silver while the red bubbled beside it, but Naruto took no notice to it as she continued to speak, "I'll tear that spirit of yours apart and then dump that pool down your Goddess's throat. Smells awful anyways."

Herb began to open his mouth to speak when Naruto suddenly jumped up, holding her hand above her head and creating a bright sapphire orb in the air above her, easily twice as large as her own body. With a yell, she slammed it into the spirit which crossed its arms in front of itself to block the blow.

Herb and Jiraiya could only watch in shock as Naruto yelled at the top of her lungs, pushing closer and closer to the pool behind Herb before there was a sudden shattering sound, like breaking glass, and she was sent flying backwards. Slamming into the wall above the broken down door, the strawberry blonde grinned as she fell to her feet, watching as the spirit began to break and shatter into many pieces.

"No... No! What have you done!? You... You are the Chosen! You can not defy the Goddess, or me!" Herb yelled out, his still smiling face showing panic for the first time, though only with his right eye now darting around as crazily as his left.

"Suck it! I don't answer to any God or Goddess!" Naruto snapped out, sticking her tongue out childishly towards the man.

"Aghh! No matter, the pool is made of the strongest material... Even if you can break the spirit, you cannot break the pool's holder, or the water itself!" Herb taunted, but blinked as Jiraiya appeared in front of him, the man's hand slamming into his cheek and knocking him into the wall. Finally the man went limp and Jiraiya let out a sigh.

"He has a point, this place is pretty sturdy..." The Toad Sage noted, pointing at the wall he had hit Herb into. The stone showed no sign of breaking despite the force behind the blow, but Herb's head was definitely wounded and bleeding heavily.

"Eh? But we both went into the wall earlier." Naruto noted, walking up towards Jiraiya with her red and white chakra beginning to recede back into her body. Her left eye continued to glow faintly, but not nearly as much as before, and both eyes had ceased having slits as the Kyuubi's influenced began to fade.

Jiraiya rubbed his chin thoughtfully, recalling how he had brushed a few rocks off his shoulder after Naruto had sent him away. "Hmm... Maybe it has to do with demonic chakra, then? Use more of the Kyuubi's chakra if you can." Naruto frowned at the man's words, huffing slightly.

"Fine..." With a brief pause, the girl addressed the fox inside her stomach. _'Furball, send me a bit more so I can blow this pool up.'_

The Kyuubi growled softly in her mind before responding, " **Do it yourself. Gather up the chakra inside yourself and form it around your body like I have before... I'll keep you from gathering too much, but get a feel for doing it yourself. I'm not going to do it every time.** "

She clicked her tongue in annoyance but nodded her consent. _'Fine. Thanks, furball.'_ A low growl was her only response and she began to gather her chakra slowly in her stomach, feeling the existence of not two, but three different types of chakra inside her body now.

She recalled how her body felt during her transformation just moments ago and began to slowly move the chakra into that mold with the two tails beginning to form behind her once more. Jiraiya watched with interest as the girl's eye began to glow brightly again while she raised her left arm up into the air. "Okay, time to blow this place sky high... Although..." She turned her head towards Jiraiya with a slight pout. "You need to teach me more Jutsu. The _**Rasengan**_ isn't too good at this stuff."

The Sage chuckled slightly, nodding his head, "Right, I'll think about it. Keep the damage to the pool, I'm going to go look for some information." The man began to leave the room after that, heading for a storage of scrolls he had found on his way down to Naruto.

Naurto huffed at his back and shook her head, beginning to form a large _**Rasengan**_ above her head using a mixture of her white and red chakra. Only the faintest hint of blue could be seen in the center, acting as the controller between the two.

Naruto could feel a rough _pull_ on her chakra as she did this, causing her to grit her teeth slightly as she focused on increasing the size and power of the technique. The chakra seemed to fight her, not wanting to mix the way she wanted it to, but the training she had done with Jiraiya before now gave her enough control over the chakra to keep it in line.

After a few more moments of creating the orb, she grinned as she felt it reach the largest point she could get it, being roughly half the size of her own body. "That should be enough..." She muttered, pulling the orb left and right above her head a few times before looking down at the pool of water.

It was crystal clear, now that she was staring right into it. Not a spec of dirt or trash was in it at all... But considering it had melted that girl, as Herb had showed earlier, it was probably expected that the pool itself would be spotless.

 _'Have to make sure I don't get any of it on myself either...'_ Naruto was sure she had already been dipped inside the pool, but there was no way to know what had changed between then and now... Not to mention this may not even be the same pool; the girl, or boy at that point, had been rather out of it due to all the drugs.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, the girl began to move the _**Rasengan**_ down quickly towards the pool...

When Herb suddenly jumped in front of her, causing her eyes to widen as the orb began to push against his body rapidly. She tried to pull it back but found her arm had already committed to it, and the chakra had stopped listening to her as it connected with Herb's body... which caused the giant orb to start to rip the man's robe and skin apart.

Still, despite the pain and despite his head already sporting a rather large wound, the man began to yell loudly with a smile on his face, "I go now, to my Goddess! I have failed to protect, but I have succeeded in resurrecting you, oh Goddess! This one … goes with a smile!"

"Y.. You idiot!" Naruto cried out, trying with all her might to pull back... But what she failed to notice was the remains of the spirit she had destroyed earlier suddenly grab her leg and pull back, causing her to fall forward and put the entirety of her weight into the attack against Herb and the pool.

With all the power and the size of the orb, Herb's body was half destroyed before it even reached the waters which began to tear and eat at his skin like a hungry beast. Naruto's orb left her hand as she fell, allowing her to sit up on her knees near the stairs with her chakra cloak beginning to recede, watching as her attack and Herb's body was devoured by the waters...

Until, finally, the orb reached the bottom of the pool and a bright light overtook the entire room...

But Naruto's vision was clouded by the image of Sir Isaac, the acting 'Prince Herb', smiling.

* * *

 _ **Chapter... END!**_

 _ **This one was fun to write, especially Sir Isaac. Writing a crazy guy is always oddly satisfying in its own way. It lets you get away from the idea that everything has to make sense in someone's actions.**_

 _ **Just like before, this one has a bit more to it than I showed, but it was actually the start of the second chapter with Naruto trying to deal with what just happened. Not really much to show there other than a bit more of the Goddess' back-story. The overall theme of the story wasn't completely set in stone, either, but I had most of it written down... somewhere.**_

 _ **But here's the second Fem Naruto story I wrote! I've got a couple more, but I'm not sure which story idea to upload next. Working a bit on the next Tales of Chapter as well. Meh! Look forward to the next one. Sadly there isn't much more to this one other than a few rough drafts, but I think the next story I upload will at least have two chapters...Maybe.**_

 _ **The one I want to upload next flows so well for so long there's no place to really stop it! Might just split it forcefully and add some stuff to make it have a proper second chapter. Meh!**_

 _ **Anywho, tell me what you think! So far only the first one has any comments!**_


	5. Experimental Chase (Ch 1)

Experimental Chase _ **(Could probably use a different title.)**_

 _ **Hey there! This is, surprising to everyone I'm sure, one of the few stories where Naruto is 100% male..! Although... I had small ideas for the plot later on regarding Sexy Jutsu being used for something, but that was so far off that it won't have an effect on this preview, so... 100%!**_

 _ **This idea came from a sudden pop of wanting to have Tayuya in a story as a main character, since she's my favorite female character in Naruto. At least, she's my favorite minor one. I felt very cheated when she just got blown away and ignored. She had probably the most potential out of the Sound 5, excluding Kimmy's overpowered bloodline, and was the FIRST character ever to outdo Shikamaru. Considering how much trouble Kishi seemed to have writing Shikamaru as a losing character, that's saying something.**_

 _ **This is also a bit of a long one since it flows so well that it's impossible to decide on an ending for the first chapter up until way later.**_

 _ **Anyways, here's the summary and I hope you enjoy!**_

Summary: In the moments when Naruto was his most vulnerable after his tragic battle with Sasuke, an unexpected storm tears him away from his allies. Later, he awakes in a confusing place with a familiar red head by his side. Will he find his way home? Or be chased away forever?

* * *

In a far off place in the country of fire, a large torrent of water was constantly crashing down between two statues. The statues were of the 'First Hokage' of the village of Konoha, and 'Madara Uchiha', Konoha's first true villain. The two had fought in that location many years ago, in order to both protect and destroy the Konoha they loved...

The statues were made in honor of the astounding fight and to remind those in the future what that type of fighting leads to.

But now, so many years later, there is another fight taking place in that very location. A fight that is small compared to the one between the Hokage and Madara, yet so full of meaning that it puts the fights on the same level.

The fight was between two Ninja of Konoha, with one seeking to leave the village entirely to obtain more power, while the other wished to bring his opponent back to Konoha, to teach him how to obtain power without leaving.

Uzumaki Naruto, prankster of Konoha, future Hokage (if his words had any merit, at least), and holder of the Kyuubi no Yoko, which was one of the most powerful demons in the world, was one of the fighters. He sought to restore his friend's mentality that the village of Konoha was 'weak' and that he needed to leave it to get more powerful.

Uchiha Sasuke was the other fighter, and was commonly known as the last 'true' Uchiha as the rest of his family had been killed by his older brother, Itachi Uchiha. That man drove Sasuke down the line of an Avenger, resulting in any action he takes to be about obtaining more power. Even if it meant going to Orochimaru, a 'missing' Ninja from Konoha who sought to destroy the village entirely.

The two boys had been fighting it out for what felt like hours, with Sasuke's body being covered in a thick gray skin and black chakra that coursed through his veins like fire. Two large wings, shaped like hands, were sprouting out of his back and he extended them outwards to slow his body from sliding backwards from another heavy hit from his opponent.

His opponent, Naruto, was covered in a thick bubbling chakra that covered his whole body and formed a fox-like shape around him. A single tail swished back and forth behind him in annoyance as his bright red slitted eyes glared angrily at Sasuke. A low growl was Sasuke's only warning as the orange wearing boy shot forward like a bullet and slammed into Sasuke with enough force to tear through a house...

But the Uchiha just smirked as he slid across the water beneath the two, as his increased power from the curse seal on his neck, given to him by Orochimaru, kept the damage minimal. Even as Naruto's hands and head slammed into his stomach, he felt only the slightest bit of pain.

"You'll have to do better than that, Naruto!" The boy stated with a grin, suddenly hopping backwards and separating himself from his long time friend. "We've been at this long enough, however, so let's finish this in one go." Sasuke actually wasn't entirely sure if Naruto understood him anymore, the boy had been acting very much like a wild animal since the orange tail had formed behind him.

But he was sure the boy got the message as Sasuke hopped up onto the top of Madara Uchiha's statue, beginning to quickly form seals. It seemed that Naruto did understand, as the boy appeared on top of the opposite statue of the First Hokage with his right hand cupping the air in front of him.

As the two boys glared at each other, two orbs began to form in their hands. On Sasuke's right hand formed a giant ball of black lightning that shot out in many directions, cutting at the top of the statue he stood on. But on Naruto's hand, a orb began to form on his palm. It started out red in color, but quickly began to have blue mixed inside it until it was a dark violet. The blonde's attack left no destruction around him, but Sasuke could _feel_ the power spinning inside the orb and he knew it was possibly more powerful than any attack Naruto had released in their entire battle.

"Let's do this... Naruto!" Sasuke called out, kicking off the statue and flying towards his opponent who mirrored his action. The two began to shout loudly as they approached each other in the air, in front of the massive water fall between the two statues. Power ripped through the air as they got closer and closer to each other, until...

"Chidori!"

" _ **Rasengan!** "_

 _ **Crash**_

The two attacks hit each other head on, and a massive shock wave began to tear through the air as the two attacks struggled against each other. Sasuke's Chidori was an attack that pierced anything and Naruto's Rasengan was made to rip things apart in a spiral, usually from the inside. The amount of power behind the two attacks were evenly matched and began to create a large orb of chakra around the two as they struggled against each other.

Images of their past began to fly between the two as they glared into each others eyes... Meeting on the docks, fighting each other, enjoying a meal with their teammates, and even smiling as the two conquered a challenge their teacher had made for them.

They were rivals, meant to fight it out to the end so they could support each other... and both of them knew that.

But Sasuke needed power, power he couldn't obtain from Konoha easily, and that was enough for the boy to run to Orochimaru for the promise of power.

And that was enough for him to push his hand forward, to end the life of his rival.

Naruto was not weak, however, and his own hand pushed even harder, keeping the two at an equal pace. But their chakra was weakening and one of them had to do something soon. Bringing up their free hands, they both swung at each other... with Sasuke's fist connecting with Naruto's gut and Naruto's long claw-like nails slicing hard against the Konoha headband Sasuke wore to protect his forehead.

While not a critical blow like the one Sasuke landed, Naruto couldn't help but grin as the chakra around the two began to fade away as their attacks finally met their end. The Uchiha had, at an early point in the fight, said Naruto couldn't land a single hit on his forehead. If he did, Sasuke would admit defeat.

As the two fell to the ground with their bodies returning to their original shape, neither sporting any heavy injuries except for a large blackened scar on Naurto's chest where his lungs lay and two black scars on Sasuke's back where his 'wings' had formed. There were holes in their clothing to accommodate these scars, since the clothing had been pierced as well, especially on Naruto's lungs where the boy had been stabbed by Sasuke's Chidori earlier in the fight. It was only the Kyuubi's regeneration that kept the boy from dying right there.

The two were laying on a flat piece of land in front of the waterfall, neither moving for a long time before Sasuke slowly stood up. Gripping his right arm with his left hand, Sasuke stumbled towards Naruto with a soft chuckle escaping his throat as his onyx colored eyes regarded the blonde with more respect than they had in a long time. "You landed the hit... but I'm still the victor."

Naurto's response was just a soft cough as he pushed himself up slowly, panting as rain began to fall down onto the two from above. Neither of it paid any mind as they focused on glaring at each other, though Naruto was first to break eye contact as he gazed sadly at the ground. "Why, Sasuke?"

It was a simple question, but was met with only a sigh, "I have already told you, to obtain power and avenge my family. I will stop at nothing to kill Itachi." Those were words he had said to Naruto and himself several times, but it was not the answer Naruto was looking for.

Gritting his teeth, Naruto swept his arm in front of him in annoyance, "Not that! Why Orochimaru? He's strong, really strong, but he's not as strong as Itachi is he? Not only that, but..!" Naruto shook his head, glaring up at the Uchiha who regarded him with curiosity. "Those two got strong in Konoha! They didn't get strong on their own. They had friends!" The blonde's words brought up a soft chuckle from Sasuke, and a fit of coughing from the blonde himself. Despite the Kyuubi restoring his lungs, they were still not fully operational. Not to mention the blow he just took to his stomach left his body weakened.

"You have a point that I didn't really think about... But it's a bit too late, isn't it?" Sasuke shook his head slightly, noting that Naruto couldn't really answer as he continued to cough. "But you're right. The Snake isn't as strong as Itachi. But he's close. I need that power to..."

A loud splash interrupted Sasuke and he looked down to see Naruto had passed out with his face against the ground. Chuckling slightly to himself, Sasuke undid the Konoha headband on his head that sported a long horizontal slash across the Konoha symbol. He stared at it for a few moments before slowly pocketing it and turning his back to Naruto, slowly walking away from the blonde...

… and into the darkness.

* * *

Kakashi Hatake was a Jonin of Konoha and possibly one of the youngest ever. He was only in his twenties, after all...

But even he had to admit he was getting way too old for this shit.

Upon coming back from a rather casual mission with the intent of getting some quality time in with his favorite, and only, students, the man had found out that not only had one of his students been hospitalized but the other two had ran off. One to join Orochimaru, and the other with a group of Genin to get the other one back.

So now he was dashing quickly through the forest towards Rice Country, where Sasuke had been taken to, with several medic-Nin behind him. He had started with ten people behind him, but he was down to three as the group had passed by the other fight locations between the Sound 5 and the Konoha Genin that went against them.

The first was Chouji Akimichi against some very large man with an orange mohawk. Their fight had left the entire area around them nothing but flat lands, but most of the damage was taken by Chouji himself after injecting a powerful drug that practically destroyed his insides. Thankfully the Akimichi clan were known for their strong bodies and the boy could make a full recovery after an operation.

The second had been against Neji Hyuuga against some boy with six arms on his body. While the six-armed boy had no real wounds on his body, it was obvious that Neji had shut down every system in the boy's body and left him for dead using the Hyuuga's Jyuuken technique that attacked the victims insides.

Neji, however, was sporting several holes across his body, notably one straight through his shoulder. The boy was in critical condition, but the medic-Ninja were certain he could make a recovery since nothing vital was hit.

Kiba Inuzuka, Shikamaru Nara, and Rock Lee had been passed as well, but only two of their fights were sporting bodies and none of them were critically injured. They had all received support from three Suna Ninja and thus had few injuries due to the assistance.

Kiba's fight left two bodies seeming to belong to twins inside of Kankuro's puppets, while Rock Lee and Gaara of the Sand had left their opponent inside a large spike of bone of his own creation. Kakashi had overheard the medic saying the man was part of the famed Kayuga clan and had died due to a virus inside his body. They had decided to simply cover the body the best they could instead of desecrating it further, since they weren't interested in taking it for themselves or anything.

Shikamaru Nara and Temari were found in the middle of the forest before any of them found the Kaguya's body, however. But their opponent was no where to be found beneath the massive amount of trees Temari had knocked over with her wind style Jutsu. It was assumed she was crushed under one, but there was no time for Kakashi to check.

And that left Kakashi and three Medical Ninja to go to the last scene of the fight past the tree line, near the massive waterfall near the border of Rice Country. There they found the fallen form of Naruto, laying flat on his stomach with his eyes closed.

With no sign of Sasuke at all.

Kakashi sighed as he landed beside Naruto, quickly gathering the boy up into his arms. He was heavy... very heavy. The rain was filling up his orange jacket, even on the inside due to the massive hole on it on both sides of his body. Kakashi was glad there was only a slightly blackened scar and not an open wound where the hole was, but he also felt sadness knowing that the boy was probably only alive because of the Kyuubi.

Turning his gaze towards the medic Nin beside him, he nodded slightly. "It looks like a fight took place here and Sasuke is no where to be found. We can only assume Naruto tried to fight him, or someone else and ended up in this state, then Sasuke left. Can you run a diagnosis on him?" The head medic-Nin, who went by the name of Suchi, nodded his head.

It was hard to tell them apart since they were all wearing completely white outfits with white masks around their heads, but Suchi had a golden cross on his chest which marked him as the 'Head' of the group.

Suchi walked closer to Kakashi and ran his hand over Naruto's chest with a green glow surrounding his palm. After a few moments, he nodded his head slightly. "He's alright. The Kyuubi seemed to have healed all critical injuries and I can't tell if he'll have that scar permanently or not. The only thing he needs is rest and food." Kakashi nodded and moved the boy onto his back, chuckling softly to himself as he felt Naruto's head bury childishly into his shoulder.

"Alright, let's head back." The words hurt Kakashi, since he knew he could try to go for Sasuke right now... But there was no telling how long the fight had been over, or where Sasuke had gone. The rain washed away all trace of his scent.

Straightening up a bit, Kakashi began to jump back into the treeline with the medic Nin following behind. They were about half way to where the Kaguya's body had been found when the rain suddenly became heavier, causing Kakashi to pause as he landed on the branch of a tree.

The other Ninja landed nearby, looking at Kakashi curiously as the man's eye narrowed. "This isn't natural... Stay alert." The rain was getting thicker and even began to create a heavy mist that slowly covered the entire area. Reaching up, Kakashi began to push up his tilted headband to reveal his Sharingan eye that he had implanted many years ago.

With the Sharingan, Kakashi could make out the figures of two of the medic Ninja in front of him and a quick glance to his right revealed a third. There was no chakra in the air that he could see, but the Sharingan was better at watching muscle movements than chakra.

He grunted slightly as he straightened Naruto on his back. "Let's get down to the forest floor. The water is too heavy to go by tree." While they could stick to any surface with chakra on their feet, it didn't make the branches tougher and they were much harder to see. The other Nin seemed to agree as they all jumped down to the forest floor beside him...

… But it seemed that whoever was going against them had expected this, and Kakashi let out a shocked gasp as he felt the weight of Naruto on his back suddenly lifted. Jerking his head up, he saw the boy had some how been caught on a wire hanging in the air which was definitely not there before. "Someone is here! They're after Naruto!" He jumped up to grab the boy and free him from the wire, but was suddenly pulled down and roughly tossed to the side by an unknown figure.

Grunting as he slid across the grown, Kakashi narrowed his eyes towards the target. He could only make out a vague outline as the mist had became too thick for his natural eye to see through. Deciding not to waste any time, Kakashi flashed through several hand seals before pulling his hand towards his mouth, letting out a "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" as a massive amount of fire began to spray out of his mouth.

While some would question the use of a fire technique in such heavy rain, the power he put behind the fire caused the water to evaporate at a rapid rate and created a lot of steam that mixed with the mist. The fireball itself flew towards his assaulter as it grew smaller and smaller, but the figure simply jumped out of the way as the fireball was only half the size it was originally by the time it got to him.

Kakashi, however, had already been flying through seals by the time the fireball left his mouth. By the time the figure's feet touched the ground again, Kakashi was already calling out his Jutsu, "Suiton: Shakkuru!" _(Water Release: Shackle)._

The steam that Kakashi created from the water, along with the mist in the air, formed thick chains that wrapped around the figure's wrists and legs, binding them to the ground. There was a gasp as the shackles wrapped around their target and Kakashi could see the figure struggling.

Closing the distance quickly, Kakashi grabbed the figure and pulled him close, trying to get a look at the man's body... Only to see that it was Suchi who he had shackled, though he could only tell due to the gold cross on the man's chest. Both recoiled at the sight of each other and Kakashi growled slightly, "You threw me? Why?"

Suchi raised his hands up defensively, a nervous grin showing under his mask. "I thought you were the one going after Naruto-san. I'm sorry." Kakashi's eye narrowed slightly at the excuse and he looked up towards where the blonde was before...

But he was no where to be found.

Cursing under his breath, Kakashi let go of Suchi. "Get the others and search for Naruto. They couldn't have gotten far..." Suchi nodded his consent and quickly gathered the other medics, informing them to search for Naruto, while Kakashi growled softly under his breath.

Even if he couldn't find Naruto today, he definitely wouldn't lose two students if he could help it.

* * *

Try as they might, the group never found a single sign of where Naruto's kidnappers went. The heavy rain washed away all scent and there was no footmarks on the ground. The heavy rain area, however, did seem to fall off as the group retreated to the area where they found the Kaguya's body, which one medic labeled as the 'Bone Forest.'

The 'Bone Forest' had rain still, but nothing compared to the downpour behind them. It was like that area itself had summoned the clouds to all rain down in that spot at once.

Kakashi sighed as he finally lowered the headband on his head to cover his Sharingan, unsure of how he was going to tell everyone, Tsunade especially, that Naruto had been kidnapped. He would have to request an ANBU squad be sent out to retrieve him quickly... and to go along with them to recover Naruto.

It was his responsibility... For failing all his students, and his teacher.

* * *

 _ **Sometime later...**_

Bright blue eyes slowly blinked open and instantly shut again as bright light shined into them. Letting a soft groan of annoyance at the pain obtained from opening his eyes so suddenly, Naruto Uzumaki opened his eyes more slowly to take in his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was a bright yellow bulb hanging above his head, shining light into the room he was in... and the second was that it was not the white ceiling he was expecting, but a dull gray.

Taking another moment to get his bearings, the blonde slowly sat up with his eyes closed and frowned as he felt the fabric under him, slowly dragging his hand up and down it as he felt a small lump. Blinking a bit, he slid his hand higher up and felt a soft roundness under the fabric. Giving it a slight squeeze, the boy frowned at the unfamiliar feeling and tilted his head slightly as he heard a soft groaning.

Giving it another squeeze, the blonde slowly opened his eyes fully to see what exactly he was grabbing... and nearly fainted right on the spot at the sight that greeted him.

On the bed he was currently sitting on was a familiar yet increasingly beautiful girl with bright red, almost scarlet, hair with her eyes closed shut. She wore nothing but a knee-length brown cloth that went all the way up to her neck with sleeves going down to her elbows, with the hint of a black shirt underneath. The girl's hair was spread out all around the pillow beneath her head, almost wrapping around it like an octopus, and there were bright white bandages around her legs which did nothing to hide the way they were twisted oddly. She had fair skin and a rather cute face, if Naruto was any judge, though the annoyed expression she had on while she slept made it much cuter.

But Naruto's attention wasn't really on any of that, but rather where his hand was... which was right on the girl's right breast. Feeling heat come to his face, he quickly retracted his hand and shivered, glad that the girl wasn't awake for that. He didn't really want to explain why he had his hand there.

Another interesting part that Naruto noticed, after his face finally cooled off, was that the girl had two small horns coming out the top of her head, just barely visible through her thick hair. Not the strangest thing he had seen, especially after watching Sasuke grow hands out of his back, but still rather strange.

Deciding that, for both their sake, she should stay asleep, Naruto decided to slowly slide off the bed on his own end and examine the room he was in more closely.

It was a rectangle shaped room that only had gray walls and a gray ceiling with the bed being the only real piece of furniture in the room, which had a single dangling light bulb above it. Besides the girl, and previously Naruto, there was nothing else but two pillows on the bed as well. The room was large enough that Naruto would need two clones to help him up to touch the ceiling, if he didn't simply walk on the wall that is.

The part that stood out the most was the thick iron bars which Naruto now had a clear view of as his eyes finally adjusted. They stood opposite of just a plain gray wall and there was no door or anything of the sort. Even past the bars, there was no door but rather a hallway that went to the left. Naruto couldn't see anything down the hallway but a dim light around a corner in the distance.

Kneeling down on one knee to look at the bars in the floor, he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. _'It looks like they were put in recently. There's only dust from the rocks being drilled out. I'd say... probably a week. It doesn't look like anyone came back to remove them either... which means they knew we wouldn't wake up, or they were done with whatever it is they had us here for.'_

Naruto was certain that there was no way a Konoha Shinobi had been the one to place them here... and he was also certain there was no way he'd be unconscious for more than a day at most. A couple hours at minimum. The damage done by Sasuke wasn't _that_ serious, after the Kyuubi healed it up at least.

Thinking of the giant fox, Naruto rubbed his chin again as he sat down cross legged in front of the iron bars. _'Maybe fur ball knows something... After all, he's usually awake when I'm not, I think.'_ Deciding it was worth a try, Naruto closed his eyes and allowed himself to drift into his subconscious.

His first sight was the familiar sewers that the seal on his stomach seemed to enjoy showing him whenever he showed up. A slight splash was heard as he began to walk across the only path he could go, following the green and red pipes on the ceiling. Despite the water at his feet, the boy felt no discomfort or chill, nor did his pants feel any more wet than they did a second ago.

It was all in his head, after all.

After a few moments of walking down the wet hallway, the blonde finally came face to face with the sleeping form of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Much like his 'real' body, the fox was behind a set of heavy iron bars which were kept together by a single paper seal. Despite its appearance, the seal was strong enough to keep the most powerful demon in the world without a single trace of danger. The only way it could be removed would be if Naruto himself grabbed the seal and ripped it off.

Which wouldn't happen anytime soon.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto put his hands up around his mouth and let out a loud, " **HEY FURBALL!** " which caused the giant Kitsune to actually flinch and growl in annoyance as his deep red eyes slowly opened and stared at Naruto with annoyance and hatred. The two weren't the best of friends, despite practically sharing a body, but neither one could refuse the other's company.

Placing its hands under its chin, the Kyuubi growled the words out with its deep voice, " **You do not need to yell, brat. What do you want..?** " The giant demon tried its best to ignore the grin the blonde gave it. The quicker the two separated, the quicker the Kyuubi could return to slumber. Having to heal the brat through the bars put more strain on its body than it'd ever admit.

"Do you know what happened after I fought Sasuke? I woke up in an unfamiliar jail cell and I have no idea why." Putting his hands behind his head as he spoke, Naruto couldn't help but grin up at the giant fox.

The Kyuubi just snorted slightly, shaking its head, " **Oh you woke up in a cell. What a terrible situation that must be. I wonder who could relate?** " Naruto's eye twitched at the fox's annoyed words and he huffed.

"Don't get an attitude. It's an honest question. What if someone is trying to take you out of my gut again? Won't you die, or something?" There was a touch of concern in the blonde's voice that the Kyuubi almost instantly dismissed, but it couldn't help but note the boy was more concerned about _it_ dying rather than himself.

It was true, however, that the Kyuubi could not resist giving Naruto the power he needed to survive as half of the Kyuubi's chakra was sealed away by the Fourth Hokage on the night the it was sealed within the boy. The other half was taken by the Shinigami and the Fourth, thus making it unable to connect all of its chakra together and effectively put it at half power.

Not only that, but chakra was made up of 'physical' and 'spiritual' power. Yin and yang. Mind and body. His body was sealed away inside the Shinigami, while his mind was sealed inside of Naruto. With no body to return to, his mind would eventually spread apart and become unable to reconnect to his body even if the Shinigami released his body years later.

The best he could hope for was the Shinigami giving his body back up some time during Naruto's life time... Or getting the boy to release the Shinigami himself. That would require a sacrifice, however, and thus wasn't really an option. Not with Naruto's nature, at least. But as long as he was in the seal, he was safe, since his chakra was fully contained.

Grunting slightly in annoyance, the Kyuubi glared towards the boy as he spoke, " **I have no idea. I was asleep until now, after the chakra ran out. I saw no reason to stay awake after the silver haired dog appeared behind you to take you home.** " Naruto frowned at his words and rubbed his chin thoughtfully, a trace of annoyance on his face.

"Kakashi-Sensei was there? That means someone had to have beat him, or I misjudged his character completely." Always a possibility, as much as he'd hate to admit it. Naruto had several people in the past betray him completely after acting supportive. Mizuki, his old academy teacher, was a prime example. The man wanted to kill him for being the Kyuubi, but showed no signs of it up until the moment he got Naruto alone and away from the village. If it wasn't for Iruka saving him that night, it's likely he'd be dead.

Having Kakashi, a Jonin which was a rank higher than Mizuki's Chunin rank, betray him would be a kick in the teeth.. but something in his gut was telling him it wasn't Kakashi behind this. The man had far more opportunities to deal with Naruto than Mizuki ever had, and never acted on them.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Naruto waved his hand towards the giant fox. "Thanks Furball, I'll give you an update if I figure something out." The Kyuubi grunted slightly and rolled its eyes.

" **If you survive. Sounds like the woman behind you is awake.** " The fox noted, and Naruto frowned as he left his subconscious to open his eyes to the real world. Blinking his blue eyes open, Naruto began to stand up from the spot he had sat in moments before. Despite the conversation taking a minute or so, it had only taken a few seconds in the 'real' world.

Though only a short period of time went by, it seemed the Kyuubi was telling the truth as he could hear the groaning of the girl behind him on the bed. Getting to his feed, and forcing his embarrassment down as the memory of touching the girl's breast was still fresh in his mind, the Jinchuriki made his way over to the bed side and stood beside it. Crossing his arms, he watched as the girl cracked open her soft brown eyes and looked around slowly … until their eyes met.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Naruto grinned at her and held up a hand in greeting. "Yo!"

His words were met with more silence before she gasped and suddenly jerked upwards, sending a left hook flying into the blonde's jaw. Surprised by the sudden move, Naruto was forced to take the blow and was sent flying back into the wall behind him. He was quick to cover and quickly jumped to his feet, glaring at the now fully awake girl, "What the hell was that for?!" He shouted out in annoyance, only to blink as the girl was covering her chest and glaring at him.

It was when she opened her mouth that he felt _real_ shock, however,"You fuckin' asswipe, takin' a girl like me to your fuckin' place while I'm fuckin' unconscious. You stupid shit stain, I hope you get ripped apart you damned rat!" Blinking a few times in confusion, Naruto could offer no retaliation to the girl's words as she cussed at him.

Seeing he wasn't intent on talking, the red-head took it upon herself to start up again, "You fuckin' retarded or something? Tryin' to think I wouldn't notice that... that... Wait a fucking minute." The girl suddenly narrowed her eyes towards the blonde and examined him further as he squirmed slightly, not seeming sure how to react to the girl's mouth.

The girl clicked her tongue as she studied the orange-wearing boy in front of her. He was extremely familiar, but the lack of headband on his head and the way his jacket was opened up to show the black undershirt was throwing her off. He also had a large hole on his right shoulder, around where his lungs were if she was any guess, but the flesh she saw was only slightly black. The most familiar thing were the three whisker-like marks on each cheek.

Taking a few more moments to run his profile through all the people she knew, she suddenly gasped and her glare grew more intense. "You're that fuckin' blonde brat! Uzukaki or somethin!" The butchering of his name had Naruto's eye twitch as he was finally brought from his stupor, and he let out a loud huff.

"Uzumaki Naruto is my name! And you're... you're uh.." He frowned slightly, causing the girl to twitch a bit. "Well, I don't actually know your name, but you seem really familiar." The blonde admitted, rubbing the back of his head.

The girl let out a loud huff, crossing her arms over her chest now with a slight smirk on her face, "Tayuya, dipshit. I'm one of the Sound 5 that kidnapped your little chicken-head emo shit for Orochimaru." Tayuya grinned slightly as the boy blinked a bit in surprise and expected him to suddenly explode in a rage at her... and possibly even try to kill her.

But he didn't. In fact, after a brief moment of surprise on his face, he suddenly nodded his head with a slight smile. "Oh yeah, you were the girl Shikamaru stayed behind to fight. I could hear your flute when I was leaving, you were pretty good." He nodded again while the red head blushed slightly at the unexpected compliment, letting out an angry huff soon after.

"Uh, hello? Earth to dip shit? I kidnapped your fuckin' Uchiha. Plus, I almost killed that fuckin' pineapple bastard before the stupid chick with the fuckin' fan showed up and threw shit all over the place." Her voice was full of irritation and her face showed it as well.

But it fell into shock as Naruto just shrugged with a sad smile. The blonde Jinchuriki rubbed the back of his head slightly as he sighed, "Sasuke picked that path himself. You were just following orders... and we were enemies, so it is expected we'd fight a bit."

His words just had Tayuya staring owlishly at him before letting out a soft scoff, turning her gaze away from him. "You're fuckin' weird."

This only earned a chuckle from the blonde as he shrugged his shoulders, "I've been called worse... But do you know what happened after the fan girl showed up?" He knew the girl with the fan was most likely Temari, but he figured Tayuya didn't know her name.

The red head opened her mouth to respond before closing it, huffing slightly, Seeming to consider her thoughts, the red head took a moment before speaking,"Not really. I was fuckin' ready to get both of 'em with a Genjutsu, but then a bunch of wind suddenly started to fucking come out of no where and threw all this shit up into the air. Fucking threw me everywhere and the last thing I saw was a fucking tree flying towards me."

Naruto nodded a bit, rubbing his chin thoughtfully which the red-head noted to not even be slightly swelled from the punch she delivered on him. She wasn't as strong as some of her 'partners', but she knew she could at least leave a nasty bruise with the force she put behind that punch. The girl huffed again in irritation, trying to stand up now instead of simply sitting up, but was met with a harsh bit of pain that had her suddenly cry out.

Surprisingly, the blonde she was talking to was beside her in an instant, regarding her with concern as he stared down at her, "You okay? It's your legs, isn't it?" Tayuya looked at him with shock visible on her face and looked down at her legs, noticing that they were covered in white bandages...

And that she couldn't feel them at all.

"W... What the fuck happened to my fucking legs!? Did you fucking do this shithead!?" Blinking a bit, Naruto shook his head with a frown.

"No, I didn't break your legs but I noticed they were messed up a bit when I woke up. I didn't put the bandages on them either... Your legs were probably broken by the tree when it hit you, but..." Naruto scratched his head slightly as Tayuya growled.

She couldn't feel anything but pain when she tried to move her legs and she knew the blonde was telling the truth. There was no way to see if her legs were bruised or not, but they looked to be slightly thinner, as if there was less bone inside them. "Who the fuck put bandages on me then? And where the fuck even are we?" The last question was said as she noticed that she was even on a bed in the first place... and that she was in a single cell with the blonde she was talking to.

Naruto was quiet for a few moments before shaking his head again, "I don't know the answers to either. I just woke up a bit ago... But the dust around the bars are only from the holes being drilled. Wherever we are, it wasn't originally a cell and it has been a few days since the bars were put in." Tayuya stared at him with annoyance and surprise on her face, before letting out a soft chuckle as she smirked.

"Weren't you supposed to be some kind of dumbass? That's what Orochimaru said at least, along with your stupid emo-bastard teammate." Naruto chuckled softly and smiled at the girl.

"I probably am really dumb, but I've been in this kind of situation before... and I usually keep stuff like that to myself anyways. No one usually cares what I say." His words had the girl frowning a bit before another thing he said clicked in her head.

"Wait a fucking second. You said a few days, at least, right?" Naruto nodded slightly and she growled, "So I was fucking abandoned then? The seal on my neck is supposed to act as a fucking homing beacon after all." Naruto stared at her curiously with his head tilted, causing the girl to snap out, "What shithead!?"

Jumping slightly from the snap, he rubbed his head nervously, "Er... I was just wondering what seal you were talking about... You had a curse seal, like Sasuke?" The red head stared at him for a moment before rolling her eyes.

"Course I fucking do. It's right on the back of my neck, ain't it?" Her question had a bit more worry in it than she meant for it to, but she stayed sitting up straight as Naruto walked behind her. She shivered and forced down a blush as she felt his gentle hands push her hair to the side, biting on her lip a bit as she felt her body shiver. While the touch itself wasn't too much, it had been a long time since anyone had touched her so gently. The only one that came close would be Orochimaru when he did the strange habit he had of ruffling her hair or cupping her cheek... But when he did it, it was creepy.

When this boy, Naruto, did it... it felt warm. Caring, even.

But that didn't mean she would just let him do what he wanted. She let out a huff of frustration as she turned her head to glare back at him. "You fucking done checking, shithead? I said it's there so..." She paused as she saw him shake his head, a neutral expression on his face.

"There's nothing there but your skin, Tayuya." The Uzumaki muttered, not seeming sure how she'd take the news.

"What the fuck!?" The girl was quick to shout and quickly began to channel her chakra to activate the curse seal as she always did... She stiffened her back, expecting the normal rush of power she felt from activating the seal and the slight uncomfortable feeling of Orochimaru's chakra leaking into her.

But she felt nothing.

No power, no surge of pleasure, no voice in her head, no horns ripping her hat apart, no faint feeling of being violated, and...

No more Orochimaru.

The very idea seemed to hit her at last and she could feel tears beginning to fall out of her eyes. Again, the blonde was staring at her with concern and for once she didn't care at all that someone was seeing her more vulnerable side.

She was finally rid of the snake.

One of the biggest regrets she ever had was joining him. Not because of his attitude, but because of his lies. He promised her a place where she could belong, a place she could be happy... But she was just made into another tool, just like the rest of his men. But now she was free. The curse seal, if it was truly gone, was the last piece that held her to Orochimaru's whim. After all, he could activate the thing at any time to reduce her to a puddle on the ground.

Literally

The girl thrust her hands up suddenly, grinning and ignoring the pain from her spine from the sudden movement, as tears continued to go down her cheeks. "Fuck yeah! No more fucking snake bastard, no more fucking two-headed shit for brains stealing my clothes, or fat shit stealing my food... No way in hell am I ever going back there! I go the fuck where I want!" Her cries of happiness were met with only a slight smile from Naruto, who couldn't help but glance at her legs.

Which didn't go unnoticed by the redhead, and she huffed as she rubbed her eyes clean. "Fuck, right. My legs. Well, I guess you can just carry me around shithead." She grinned almost playfully at him, placing her hands on the bed she sat on, ignoring the surprised look Naruto gave her. "I'll tell you Konoha fucks whatever you want to know 'bout Orochimaru in exchange... though I don't know too much. Only where like four fucking bases are. He's pretty good at keeping stuff hidden."

The blonde Jinchuriki blinked a few times, his head tilted curiously "I thought you guys were super loyal to Orochimaru-teme though?" Tayuya huffed a bit at his words and shook her own head as she gripped the bed she laid on.

"Not fucking close. All of us were taken in when were like... fucking five or some shit. He trained us to be super fucking strong but that bastard just wanted meat shields and most of us knew that. But it was better than nothing, you know? I didn't really fucking feel like I belonged, but it was better than the shit hole I grew up in where..." She blinked and blushed slightly, glaring at the blonde. "Why the fuck am I telling you this anyways?"

Naruto smiled a bit and sat on the edge of the bed, putting his back to Tayuya who stared at him curiously while part of her wanted to kick him off for fun.

Her broken legs prevented this, however, and she was thankful a bit as the blonde began to talk.

"I grew up in Konoha, but... it's not the happy place most people say it is. I told you I'm used to being in a cell like this, right?" The musician nodded slightly, a curious expression on her face that the blonde couldn't see. "Well, it's only partly true... My care takers back then used to put me in areas when I slept and then blocked off the only exit. Only one of them actually drilled holes and put in bars, using the excuse that I was causing too much trouble for the other orphans. It took until my fifth birthday or so that the Hokage found out and decided to let me live on my own instead of dealing with the orphanage." The boy let out a slight sigh, rubbing the back of his head.

"But... it was just another cage. Just one I could hide in." He scratched his cheek a bit before continuing, "I was treated as an outcast, a demon, someone to hate because of something I had no control over. I was kept away from other children, kept away from shops, and threatened by Ninja if I did one thing out of line like bumping into someone on accident. I had almost no one to turn to but the Hokage... and he was too busy to really do anything. So..."

He turned his head, staring at Tayuya's surprised expression with a sad smile on his own face, "I can understand, I think. Being alone and then someone comes up saying they want to save you... If … If Orochimaru had came up to me at that time, saying things like taking me to a safe place... I think I would have went with him too. So... that's another reason I can't blame you for what you did, or at least tried to do. Because I might have done it too if I was in your shoes."

The two sat in silence for a few moments, simply staring at each other before Tayuya suddenly clicked her tongue slightly with a huff. "I... was born in fucking Iwa. Nothing but rocks and more fucking rocks. I had fucking nothing to my name, cause my fucking parents went and left me in an orphanage with nothing. But... the owner was nice..." She muttered the last part, her head lowering slightly as she gripped the brown cloth hiding her thighs.

"She cussed a lot... Something I got from her." Naruto chuckled slightly at that but otherwise stayed quiet as the girl continued her story, "She taught me music... Taught me everything I knew... But then she died of some fucking Iwa disease... and the new owner decided I was too fucking old to be in the orphanage. Even though I was fucking five!" She growled a bit and jumped slightly as Naurto slid beside her, resting his back against the headboard the bed had... But what surprised her was the hand he had placed on her own.

She blushed a bit, but didn't have the power to pull her hand away. She decided to just simply let him do what he wanted... For now.

Any further down or up, and she may have to break his wrist.

Clearing her throat slightly, Tayuya continued. "So I had to fucking scavenge for food, and then there are these things..." She reached up, poking the horns slightly sticking out of her head. "I figured you already saw them, shithead, since I can't feel myself wearing my hat, so..." Naruto blinked a bit and nodded.

"Yeah, I saw them. I thought they were kind of cute." Tayuya _did_ pull her hand back from his on that note, using it to slap his chest and cause the boy to let out a heavy _oof_. "Ack... What was thaaat for?" He huffed a bit in annoyance, glaring at the girl a bit as she glared right back.

"Shut it, shithead. Or I'll say your stupid whiskers are cute. How would you like that!?" An owlish stare was her only answer and she let out a huff, pulling her hand back. "Anyways... These fucking things made everyone treat me like I was some kinda fucking demon imp. Really fucking annoying, though I got some good laughs when I took a fucking light and used them for a shadow puppet thing. Fucking scared the lights out of some kids." Naruto chuckled slightly and grinned, nodding his head.

"I did that once too, but with some adults. Made them think the Hokage was walking towards them while they were goofing off. Almost made one jump off the wall from the chair he was sitting on." Tayuya laughed at that, grinning wide.

"No shit? I can't imagine someone doing that with snake-shit. I should have fucking done that, made fucking fat-so shit himself or something..." She huffed slightly and chuckled to herself. "Anyways... that's pretty much fucking it.. Nothing really notable happened, except I got my flute... Wait..." With a sudden startle, the girl began to look around the room wildly before cursing with a loud, "Fuck!"

Startled by her sudden anger, though quickly getting used to it, Naruto stared at her in alarm, "What's wrong?"

Pushing herself up with her arms to get a better angle on the room, the girl growled a bit as she looked around, "Fuck... My flute isn't here, is it? Fucking shit. That's all I fucking had." Naruto frowned a bit and stood up, looking around the room himself and even leaning over to look under the bed. But his efforts brought nothing as there was nothing in the room at all but the bed they woke up on.

"Nothing... They must have our stuff somewhere, I'm missing my kunai pouch and my headband too." He stood up, rubbing his chin a bit, "That was a gift from Iruka-Sensei too... I need to get that back." Tayuya grumbled to herself, huffing as she leaned back.

"Well, if you go look, then take me along shithead. That flute was the gift the old owner gave me before she passed... What she taught me music with." She clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Fuck, I hope the assholes who brought us here are still around so I can fucking tear them apart. Ugh... If only my fucking legs weren't busted." She slapped her own legs at her words and Naruto rubbed his chin a bit, looking towards the iron bars.

But in reality, he was sinking back into his subconscious. This time he 'woke up' right in front of the Kyuubi, who was grinning at him slightly as if it already knew what the boy was going to say. " **Seems you found a feisty woman this time, brat.** " There was a trace of amusement in his voice that wasn't lost on Naruto, but the blonde chose to ignore it.

Instead, he wanted to get straight to the point. "Kyuubi, do you think we can do something about her legs? I don't want to abandon her here... I don't want to use a clone to carry her around if there are enemies around, since it might get popped and hurt her." He had an experience of being dropped while on a clone's back. It hurt quite a bit when he hit his rear, and he wasn't certain how it'd hurt Tayuya with her broken legs.

The giant kitsune scoffed slightly, staring down at the boy with amusement, " **Getting attached rather quick, aren't you boy?** " Naruto frowned up at the demon, regarding him with a slightly cold stare.

"She's like me... Alone, and treated like some kind of monster. I can't just leave her alone again... and she's in the same boat we're in. I can't just abandon her and save my own butt... Just like I won't abandon you if you get in trouble." His last words had the Kyuubi flinch back as if struck, but it quickly recovered and began to growl softly.

" **Fine, fine... The girl can be healed, but it needs to be done carefully. But first, I need to establish a better connection to your mind."** Naruto tilted his head curiously, not sure what the fox meant. **"Just sit still for a moment. Allow my chakra to run through you..."** Bubbling orange and red chakra began to leak through the bars of the Kyuubi's cage, slowly sliding towards Naruto's awaiting body.

Naruto frowned a bit and after a moment nodded his head as the chakra grew closer. "Alright, I'm trusting you on this Kyuubi." The giant fox seemed to only blink at this as the chakra wrapped around Naruto and then pulsed inside him, making him glow a dull red for a moment before it settled down.

" **There... Going into the state you had earlier in your fight with the Uchiha put you close to being able to talk with me freely. I merely gave you an extra push."** The Kyuubi explained, leaning back slightly in its cage and staring down at Naruto. " **We can speak freely now, you merely need to think about speaking to me in your mind and we can establish a conversation without you having to come here... But it will not be as 'quick' in the real world."**

"Just more convenient." The boy noted, earning a nod from the Kyuubi. Naruto smiled up at the large fox and chuckled, "Thanks, furball. I appreciate it. I was kind of bothered having to come into this place every time I wanted to say hi." The Kyuubi just growled slightly, glaring at the boy who continued to grin at him.

" **Just don't over use it, brat. I don't need you yapping at me too much. Now get out there so I can explain what we need to do.** " Naruto nodded his consent and 'left' the sewers of his mind. Once again, it had only been a few moments in the 'real' world, but he could see Tayuya staring at him with curiosity in her eyes and she seemed to notice that he became 'focused' again.

"What the fuck was that, shithead? You fucking started getting all vacant eyed on me and then glowed all fucking orange and shit... Like, more orange than you already are. What's with all the fucking orange anyways?"

Naruto smiled at her words, pulling at his jacket. "I like this color, and it makes people embarrassed when they lose sight of me." Tayuya smirked slightly at that, but her slight glare told him he wasn't going to get by with just that. Chuckling slightly, he rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, you probably know I'm the container of the Kyuubi, right? That snake bastard wouldn't have left that out, right?" Tayuya blinked a few times at his words, smirking slightly to herself.

"No, that _snake bastard,"_ The slight emphasis she put on the name wasn't lost on Naruto, and he blushed a bit as he realized he took a page from her book with the cussing, unintentionally. Tayuya smirked as she continued to speak, "did tell us that. But he said you were really fucking stupid so there was no fucking worry unless you flipped your shit. But we knew like … five fucking barriers to keep you busy if you fucking tried any foxy shit. Does that mean you were fucking talking to the thing?"

Her last words were said with morbid curiosity and her expression was slightly surprised as Naruto nodded his head, though the boy had a trace of annoyance on his face from being called stupid, "Yeah, I was talking to him... it... I don't actually know if it's a boy or a girl." A slight growl echoed in Naruto's head and he shook a bit from the sound, getting an odd look from Tayuya, "Er, anyways..."

He waved his hand slightly, "I was asking the Kyuubi if there was a way to fix your legs up. I'm no good at medical Jutsu, but Kyuubi gives me really strong regeneration. I figured that meant it knew something about healing." His words were met with a slightly vacant stare as Tayuya frowned at him. Naruto tilted his head slightly, letting out a "What?" as he returned the stare.

After a moment, Tayuya answered, "I'm just... I don't know why you haven't abandoned me yet. Why? I mean... I... I know we're a bit similar, at least in our past, but... Like fucking why? I don't fucking get it. Why do you wanna fucking heal my legs? What if I'm just part of some fucking plan to stab you in the back?" She was gripping the bed tightly again and Naruto smiled at her, which only caused her to glare at him.

But she didn't interrupt as he began to speak, "Well, to put it simply... I like you." She blinked, but didn't speak as he rubbed the back of his head, "Well uh, I mean... I can't just abandon you here or anything. We're kind of in the same boat, you know? And if you were going to stab me in the back, you would have already. Plus... You..." He shuffled slightly, rubbing his head again and biting his lip, "You cried... when I said the seal was gone. You were so happy that you were finally away from that snake bastard... I'm not going to let you just sit here and die alone after something like that happened."

The blonde turned his head slightly to avoid her stare, and thus missed the mix of emotions going across Tayuya's face.

She couldn't understand the boy. He seemed to have a 'happy' air about him, and he was very serious back in the forest about getting that Uchiha back. But now...

 _'Now it's like... I'm the only fucking thing that matters. Because I'm right in front of him. Because we're... the same.'_ It was both heart warming and... almost a little scary. With how much she had been led around on a leash by Orochimaru for most of her life, it was almost scary how this … this _boy_ was thinking more about herself than she ever did. Back then it was all about how to serve Orochimaru, so that he wouldn't kill her at least.

But she was free from that now. Free to do what she wanted, and free to … to sit here with her broken legs. Unless...

She coughed slightly, drawing the blonde's attention to her again as she looked down a bit with a faint blush on her cheeks. "Okay... I get it. Do your thing, shithead. Just don't blow my legs up." Naruto blinked a few times and smiled at her, which she avoided meeting with her eyes as she lowered her head further.

That smile made her far more warm than it should have.

"Alright! I'll do my best, but first I need to get Kyuubi to tell me what to do." Tayuya nodded a bit and expected a vacant look to come back to his face, but the boy looked normal as he stared at Tayuya's legs. Inwardly, he 'thought' towards Kyuubi as the fox instructed in order to contact it. _'Furball?'_

" ** _I can hear you, brat. Alright, now I need you to gather some chakra around your palms. My chakra. You'll need to control it, I can only force it out of the seal."_** The Kyuubi's voice was surprisingly clear in his head, almost like it was his own thoughts. But that probably made sense, since the thing was inside his head for the most part.

Putting his hands forward, Naruto began to gather the chakra the Kyuubi pushed out into his palms... Much like the tree climbing exercise, it was like putting out a constant but much smaller stream of red chakra. Tayuya could only watch in awe as the red glow surrounded Naruto's palms and shivered a bit as he placed his hands onto her bandaged legs.

 _'What now?'_ The blonde thought towards his 'partner', who was quiet for a few moments before responding.

" ** _The bandages need to go. They're interfering a bit with the process... But from what I can tell, the bones in her legs are almost dust."_** There was a mild bit of humor in the fox's voice, but Naruto wasn't entirely sure why.

Letting the chakra flow back into his body, Naruto turned his head up towards Tayuya. "The fox says the bandages have to be off. They're messing with something." Tayuya blinked a bit and nodded, starting to reach down to pull up the cloth that was resting on her thighs...

Only for both of them to blush heavily and Naruto to turn his head away sharply while Tayuya forced the cloth back down. It was apparent that whoever put the bandages on her didn't think much for her decency, as the girl was wearing nothing underneath and the bandages only went up to her thighs.

Despite her embarrassment, the girl still had the 'decency' to let out another string of curses,"I'm... I'm going to fucking murder them. I'm going to grab their eyeballs and then force feed them down their own throats and then let them shit all over the fucking ground until the eyeball pops out... and then I'll shove it in their god damned fucking skull until their brain is..."

"Okay okay!" Naruto quickly interrupted with his hands held up defensively towards the girl, trying to force the image out of his head with his face still red as he struggled to get rid of the _other_ image in his head too. "I... I'll take care of the feet and you do that area, okay? I promise I won't look!" Tayuya regarded him with an annoyed yet embarrassed look before letting out a huff.

"Fine... You better not fucking look or I'll gouge your eyes out. I'll only forgive the first one since... since I fucking lifted it like an idiot." She growled a bit and Naruto gulped, turning his head so he could only see the girl's slightly twisted feet.

"It wasn't stupid. You can't feel that stuff anyways... besides, who thought it'd be a pervert that caught us? I'm actually surprised I'm still dressed like I was before." Excluding the pouch and headband at least, but those didn't really count. Another _huff_ from Tayuya was Naruto's signal to go and he started to slowly unwrap the girl's feet, going slow to give her enough time to undo the ones on her thighs and to make sure he didn't accidentally hurt her.

He wasn't quite sure what she could feel anyways.

After a few moments of unwrapping, the two finally got the last bit of bandages off her legs, with Tayuya forcing the cloth on her body down a bit to cover her 'private' area more carefully while showing off a bit of her thighs. The sight that met them with all the bandages gone was not a pretty one, however.

Tayuya's legs were definitely smaller than they had been in the past, due to the bones inside having been crushed. Her legs were even twisted towards each other, but Tayuya's feet were twisted in the opposite direction their legs were going and each toe seemed to go be going its own direction. Her legs and feet were also a dull red color, as if covered by a giant bruise, but it was clear they had at least some time to recover.

Tayuya clicked her tongue in annoyance as she leaned back a bit, "Fuck my legs are a fucking mess... I'm going to skin that fucking wind bitch." Naruto smiled a bit nervously as he stared at the girl's legs, starting to hold his hands up against them again.

"Don't do that, please. She's actually a friend of mine. I'm sure you two can get along once you get patched up..." Red chakra began to bubble around his hands again while Tayuya huffed in annoyance.

"No fucking chance. At the very least I'm gonna fucking punch her in her smug weasel ass face." The blonde chuckled a bit at her words, his hands resting on her right leg.

"As long as you don't hurt her too badly... I don't want you thrown in jail for that." The red-head huffed slightly, going quiet as the red chakra on his hands began to wrap around the girl's leg like a rope. _'So what now furball?'_ Silence was his only answer for a few moments as the chakra spread further, wrapping around the girl's other leg despite Naruto's hands remaining where they were.

As the chakra became a bit thicker, Naruto could hear the Kyuubi's voice rumble in his mind, " **The girl's legs look worse than they are. Just keep your hands there and I'll do the rest... Her body is very responsive to my chakra, almost unnaturally so. It seems she may be a decedent of some form of demon like myself.** " The news surprised Naruto, but also didn't.

The blonde glanced up at Tayuya's horns and was met with a bit of annoyance from the red-head herself, "What? Now my fucking horns are throwing you off?" There was no way the girl could remove those, but...

Naruto smiled at her and shook his head, continuing to hold his hands in place for the Kyuubi, "No, the fox just said your legs aren't as bad as they look." The look she gave him was skeptical, but it just had him smile wider, "And that you might be the decedent of some demon, because you're very responsive to his chakra."

His words didn't seem to phase Tayuya too much as she huffed a bit, leaning back, "No shit? Guess those brats were right for calling me a fucking demon wench then."

"Don't say that." Naruto's response was quick, leaving the girl's two brown eyes to blink at him curiously as he frowned towards her, "You just have a neat bloodline. There's nothing wrong with that. You're definitely not a monster like they accused you of... or a wench." Absolute confidence was in his voice as he spoke of her, which caused her to let out an annoyed scoff.

"You don't fucking know me. I've fucking killed so many fucking people, and don't you dare say I was just following fucking orders!" Naruto closed his mouth at that, letting her see his frown, "I made the fucking choice to kill them. I'm not going to make shitty excuses for what I did. I..."

"You were a shinobi." Naruto interrupted, turning his gaze back towards Tayuya's legs which were slowly being covered in the Kyuubi's red chakra. "Shinobi kill. I know they do, but they also protect. If you didn't do what you needed to, you would have been killed by them too... As long as you don't enjoy to kill, or as long as you don't kill people who weren't fighting back, then..."

He went silent at that, and Tayuya let out a slight huff of annoyance as she stared at him, "You're fucking weird."

That just got a grin from the boy and silence fell between the two as Naruto focused on controlling the chakra flowing out of him. This lasted a few minutes before Tayuya suddenly let out a pained gasp, "Ow! That fucking hurt.. What the fuck did you do?" Naruto was staring at her in alarm and he looked back and forth between her and his own hands.

"N.. Nothing? I mean... What did you feel?" The red head huffed a bit, glaring at him.

"What the fuck do you think I felt? Stupid shithead, I felt you pinching my damn legs..." She let out another pained gasp, but there was also a look of realization on her face as she tared down at her legs, "Wait, what? I can already feel my fucking legs? What the hell?"

A deep rumbling suddenly echoed in Naruto's head as the girl stared at her legs in wonder, " **I have restored most of her bones... along with her nerves. It will be awhile before her muscles are ready to work correctly, since I have to heal them carefully. It will be … a day or two before she can walk again. But even longer before she can walk properly. A few months, at best.** " The Kyuubi growled out, earning a nod from Naruto, who moved his head to pass on the information...

But he paused as he saw Tayuya's shocked expression as she held her head, staring into Naruto's eyes as the boy turned towards her. "What the fuck was that? Was that the fucking Kyuubi? I could hear that shitty deep voice in my head." To say the blonde was shocked was an understatement, but the two flinched slightly out of their surprise as a deep chuckling echoed in their heads.

" **Indeed, you can hear me, girl. The brat's chakra is flowing into you like water... You have some form of demon blood inside you, which allows me to speak into your mind. Given how you handled the seal the snake put on you, I would say it was some type of nature demon. But I'm not telling you what that means.** "

The two simply stood there, staring at each other, as the Kyuubi finished talking before Tayuya let out an annoyed, "Fuck! You have to put up with that shithead all the time? Sounds so fucking annoying." An annoyed growl echoed in her head, which just had the red head smirking a bit as she annoyed the powerful fox.

Naruto laughed a bit at her reaction with his eyes closing, "Kyuubi isn't that bad." The boy managed to get out with a playful smile on his face, " A bit of a snob, but it helps when it wants to... Like now, with how we're healing your legs." Tayuya rolled her eyes slightly and huffed as she laid down on her back suddenly.

"Whaaaatever, shithead. I ..." She paused and wiggled slightly, seeming embarrassed about what she was about to say, "I appreciate it. Both of you.." Her words brought a smile to Naruto's face and a slight grunt of approval from the Kyuubi.

"Don't mention it, Tayuya-chan~ We're friends, right?" Naruto said with a grin, only to flinch as the girl sat up quickly and slapped his arm with an annoyed expression, which was put off a bit by the rosy blush she was sporting. Whining a bit at being hit, again, Naruto pouted at the girl, "What was that for Tayuya-Chan!?"

"It was for that!" She slapped his arm again, though not hard enough to pull his hand away from her leg. "Don't call me some stupid shitty name like... like that! It's just Tayuya!" The annoyance was clear in her voice, but it only had Naruto grinning.

"Never, Tayuya-chan~ That's what I'm going to call you from now on." Another slap was his response but the red head seemed to get that slapping him was going to do anything to change his mind.

"Fucking shithead..." She huffed a bit and blinked at the red chakra flowing to her legs suddenly stopped. "What the..?"

" **I've done all I can for now.** " The Kyuubi stated inside the minds of the two as Naruto pulled his hands back, " **You'll have to carry her if you intend to get out today. It's best that no pressure is put onto those legs until the muscles fully regenerate. Light walking will be fine after that, but nothing major.** " Naruto nodded his head.

"Yeah, that's fine. I can carry her while a clone walks around... Er... If that's okay with you, Tayuya-chan." He looked at the girl a bit nervously, not even sure if she had been able to hear the fox anymore.

Tayuya nodded her head slightly, though she seemed to have similar concerns as the blonde, "Am I just gonna have foxy in my head for fucking forever now?" Naruto just shrugged slightly at her question, but the Kyuubi chuckled slightly in their minds again.

" **Possibly. It depends on how well your body takes to my chakra and how long you spend near the brat. If you were to separate for a few days, my chakra would fade... But then your legs won't heal properly.** " That part was only a small lie, as the girls legs were almost fully healed from his chakra, but needed nothing but time to fully heal now. But the fox wasn't certain if its chakra would stay inside her if it was not nearby to support it.

Neither of the children knew its concerns, however, and neither knew the bubbling curiosity that formed inside the great fox. It had been quite a few years since it had any interactions with another demon after all.

Tayuya clicked her tongue in response, nodding her head. "Fine, I guess it doesn't fucking matter that much. Just don't yap at me too much, fox breath." Naruto tried, _tried,_ to keep the snicker from escaping as he heard the fox growl slightly.

" **Don't worry, I don't plan to. I'm going to sleep. I've been doing too much work for this brat lately."** The girl just rolled her eyes at the fox's words as she felt its 'presence' start to fade a bit from her mind. It was slightly annoying that she was already some what used to that presence as well.

Naruto let out a soft chuckle, gaining the red head's attention again as he began to walk towards the iron bars that blocked them from the outside world. "Well, let's get out of here. I'm kind of getting hungry too, so hopefully we're near a town or some wild life." The blonde gripped the iron bars with his hands as Tayuya sighed behind him.

"Shithead, you can't just break those with your hands... and I'm getting pretty hungry too. Can't you use Ninjutsu or something fucking more powerful than your..." Her words were cut off as a loud creaking noise was heard followed by a heavy ringing as Naruto pulled the bars apart from each other, managing to bend two other bars on each side as well to create a large opening.

The musician could only look on in shock with her mouth hanging open as Naruto dusted his hands off, grinning. "Those were pretty poorly made bars... Definitely not made with the best materials. I can still use my chakra to boost my strength too, so it's strange they'd use those to keep us in here..." The boy briefly wondered why his thoughts were so active today, more so than usual at least, but his process was interrupted by a loud,

"Holy shit!?" from Tayuya behind him. The girl was growing increasingly aware that Orochimaru _might_ just suck at gathering information. Not only had the boy surprised her with how intelligent his responses were, but he had just _bent_ iron bars and looked completely fine. Old or not, it was no small feat to bend four bars like that.

"Er, Tayuya-Chan? You okay?" Naurto questioned, waving his hand slightly in front of her shocked face.

The girl shook her head slightly and let out an annoyed _huff_ , slapping away his hand. "I'm fine, shithead. Just surprised..." At the boy's confused stare, the girl rolled her eyes, "Well, that snake bastard kept going on about how dumb and weak you were without using the Kyuubi's chakra, but..." She shrugged, "You're pretty damn strong, huh? But enough! Let's get the hell out of this fucking place."

The blonde nodded his consent, blushing slightly from the off handed compliment. "Alright, hang on though..." The boy quickly put up his favorite hand seal, summoning ten Kage Bunshin, which caused Tayuya to let out a slight whistle as the group ran out of the building.

The real Naruto put his back beside Tayuya on the bed, bending his knees slightly. "Come on, I'll carry you until your legs heal."

The idea caused the red head's face to heat up, and normally she would not trust anyone to carry her... But the boy had already proven he could be trusted. So with a sigh, the girl wrapped her arms around the boy's neck and pulled herself up to him.

The boy stiffened as he felt her chest pushing against his back and felt his face getting hot as he slid his hands back, putting them under the girl's legs. Tayuya just shuddered against him, letting out a slight gasp of pain as he stood up completely with his hands holding the upper area of her legs, dangerously close to her barely covered rear.

"Keep your hands where they are, shithead." The Kunoichi muttered dangerously in his ear, resting her chin on his shoulder. "Any higher and I'll skin your ass until I can see your.."

"I got it!" Naruto hastily interrupted, blushing as he moved out of the cell they were kept in, heading down the hallway slowly. "I won't move my hands any higher, so..." He stopped as he reached the exit, frowning as he saw the area around him.

It was a forest around them and Naruto could see his clones scanning the area... But it was just trees, trees, and more trees. Hardly any wild life around the area and he couldn't make out any signs that a human had been around recently.

The boy turned his body slightly to look behind him at the building he just left, and was surprised to see it had completely vanished. "What the hell..?" Naruto muttered, taking an experimental step backwards, earning an odd look from Tayuya on his back.

"What's up shithead?" The girl didn't get an instant response like she wanted, but she blinked as she noticed something on the top of her vision fading in and out. Glancing up, she frowned at the sight of the large opening that exited the building seeming to fade in and out of sight. "What the fuck?"

Naruto hummed to himself, stepping out of the building completely and shrugging one. "That explains why no one found us. The outside is covered in some kind of... invisible stuff." Naruto grumbled a bit at not having a better way to put it, though he wasn't quite sure what could even render a whole building invisible.

Tayuya rolled her eyes slightly, looking back and forth the best she could from her position on Naruto's back. "So where the hell are we anyways? Since there are so many fucking trees around, then..."

"We're still in the Land of Fire." Naruto finished for her, starting to turn to the left and walk towards the tree line nearby. "Or at least near it. The only places with dense trees like this are around Fire Country or past Wind Country. But I don't think we've been that far."

Tayuya hummed softly in his ear, picturing the map Orochimaru had her practically memorize before she ever was sent out on an outside mission. Considering where they had been before... "Rice Country is where the fucking snake made all his holes." Tayuya noted, clicking her tongue once as the shadows of the trees began to cover them.

"And Rice is kind of flat." Naruto added, earning a slight nod from Tayuya.

"Right. So we're not in Rice, since there's too many fucking trees. Which means we either went further north..."

"Or south, back towards Konoha." The two fell into a slight silence at that, each considering their position carefully as Naruto walked through the forest.

It was a couple minutes of walking when both of them heard a loud growling noise and Naruto stiffened, turning his gaze to the left where the sound originated. Tayuya followed his gaze and both of the Shinobi paled slightly at the massive form of a large brown bear staring down at them.

It was easily three times as large as Naruto himself, and the arms on the beast were like giant logs with swords on the end. The large beast simply glared at them for a moment, slowly licking its lips.

The two 'targets' the bear had started to focus on were not nearly as subtle or quiet about their hunger, however, and visibly startled the bear at their sudden outcry of "Meat!" "Get that fucking bear!"

The sudden shout and sudden jump from the boy caused the bear to stumble back in surprise, especially as a _second_ version of the boy jumped out of the trees from above and slammed its foot right into the bears head.

The creature was not weak, though, and quickly counter attacked the clone with a heavy swipe of its claws. But while it was not weak, it was not used to such surprises in its forest, and was taken back by its foe turning into smoke after it was struck.

This left it open for a heavy kick on its left leg from the side by the real Naruto holding Tayuya, while another blow landed simultaneously on its other leg by one of Naruto's many clones. The bear was sent toppling down onto its back from the sudden force, while a loud high-pitched whistling caused its eyes to spin.

Tayuya grinned slightly to herself and whistled once more as she saw the bear struggle to push itself up due to the Genjutsu she cast messing up its sense of orientation. This left the bear open for two more of Naruto's clones to fly down from the tree tops, both of them pushing a kunai into the bears head.

The large creature let out heavy roars of pain, swinging and batting away the clones as blood dripped down its head quickly onto its large chest. Naruto was forced to jump back as the bear took a swipe at him as well, and frowned as the creature fell onto its face, breathing heavily. The two kunai that had pierced its skull, however, were missing just as the two clones that held them before were gone as well, having been reduced to smoke by the bear's attack.

But the wounds they left were still very real, and bleeding even more now that the kunai had disappeared, "Think that did it?" Naruto questioned, earning a soft hum from Tayuya.

"Dunno, fucker seems pretty tough... Throw another just in case." Nodding, Naruto shot a glance towards the last clone in the area, as the rest of them were either destroyed by the bear or were still exploring the area. The clone seemed to get the message and stepped out from behind the tree he was shadowing the two from, tossing a kunai towards the bears head.

It sunk in slightly, though not as deep as the other two had, but it seemed to do the job as the creature stopped moving and its slight whimpers ceased. After a moment of watching the beast to make sure it stayed down, Naruto nodded towards his clone again.

The clone nodded and without a word created ten more clones from itself. The ten clones began to lift the bear up, five on each side of it, with Naruto and Tayuya following behind, while the 'original' clone jumped back into the trees.

The group began to walk further into the forest, looking for a suitable place to cook the bear when they came upon a small clearing, surrounded by trees. A faint stream could be heard nearby and birds chirped above the mass of blondes and one red head, up until the large _thump_ was heard as the bear was dropped to the ground. The noise sent the birds flying away in alarm, but started to settle down on nearby trees to watch the group of blondes once it was clear the noise wasn't something to be afraid of.

The real Naruto hummed thoughtfully to himself, looking around the clearing and beginning to walk towards the faint noise of the stream. He smiled upon reaching it, feeling Tayuya squirming a bit on his back as he began to kneel down, putting her gently near the edge of the stream. She glanced up at him with an arched eyebrow, watching as he stepped aside and began to pull his jacket off, tossing it to the side. The red-head opened her mouth to ask what he was doing when the blonde began to lift his undershirt off, exposing his surprisingly buff chest that had the girl's eyes widening in surprise.

It was only the soft _thump_ of his shirt hitting the ground beside his jacket, both being on his right side near the edge of the stream, that Tayuya found her voice. "W... What the fuck are you doing, asshole!?" She shouted in alarm, her face tinted a light red while she stared at the boy's muscles that gleamed a bit from the light hitting his chest.

Of course, he wasn't the strongest looking Ninja Tayuya had ever seen, but he was the first to strip so causally next to her. Thankfully, he didn't seem to be going for his pants at all and instead stared at her with a confused look on his face, idly poking at the faint black scar over his lungs. "Huh? What's wrong, Tayuya-Chan?" She growled at the innocence in his voice, turning her head away sharply.

"Oh nothing much, just having some blonde asshole take his shirt off beside a girl that can't even run away. Real classy." She spat out in irritation, staring at the water ahead. Naruto just stared blankly for a moment before realization set upon his face, his fist hitting against the palm of his hand.

"Oh! Sorry, I guess I should've said something, huh?" He laughed, rubbing the back of his head a bit, giving her a foxy smile with his eyes closed.

The ex-Sound Nin just clicked her tongue in response, glaring towards the boy. "Yeah, you should have. Dumbass." She huffed in annoyance, making the Jinchuuriki laugh nervously. Despite his nervousness, the boy began to walk past the girl, leaning over and looking into the stream with a smile on his face before he began to speak.

"Was going to catch some fish for us too. We might not run into water again for awhile and bear is kind of hard to cook anyways... and I'm kinda afraid I'm pretty stinky, so I thought I'd wash up a bit." Naruto's explanation made the girl sniff indignantly, her face still red as she glanced at the boy from the side. She let out an annoyed huff, watching him suddenly swipe at the water and miss a fish that had jumped out briefly, causing the boy to gasp and wave his arms around in an attempt to keep his balance.

Tayuya chuckled a bit at the sight, relaxing a bit more while she leaned back and pushed her palms against the ground to keep herself upright. "Should explain stuff sooner, dumbass. But at least you kept your pants on." Naruto just rolled his eyes, about to comment when a fish swam quickly past his vision that he made a quick grab for. The tips of his fingers barely touched the tip of the fish's tail and he grumbled, leaning back again with a frown.

Tayuya rolled her eyes a bit, chuckling at the sight. "Smooth, Shithead. Want some help?" Naruto pouted a bit at her teasing, though gave her a confused stare at her offer.

"Help? But you can't..." He glanced at her still broken legs, which were laid out straight in the grass under her. She chuckled at the confused expression he wore, pointing towards her mouth.

"My Genjutsu can keep those fuckers in place for you to grab, Shithead." His eyes widened a bit at the claim, but he quickly gave her a wide smile, nodding his head.

"That'd be great, Tayuya-Chan! I'll be sure to cook them up nicely too." She shrugged in response, not having high expectations despite being surprised by the boy several times already. Naruto suddenly hummed a bit, scratching at his cheek slightly. "And do you have to keep calling me shithead? It's kind of..."

"You gotta keep calling me Chan?" She interrupted, giving him a smug look. He grimaced a bit, causing her to snicker slightly while she leaned back a bit further. "There you go then. You keep addin' chan, I keep callin' you shithead. Speakin' of, keep your eyes peeled Shithead." She snapped her fingers a bit, causing the boy to jump and quickly turn back to the stream, staring down into the water. Tayuya began to whistle a low tune while he did, the sound bouncing off the water and beginning to fill the clearing with her gentle tune while her eyes closed.

The sound made the fish in the stream slow down as her chakra flowed into the water, losing control of their bodies due to her song. Naruto grinned at the sight, watching three fish come to a stop and turn right in front of him, all of them seeming to point towards the source of the sound paralyzing them. He waited for a moment for more to gather before his hand shot out, grabbing five by their tails and holding them up, a proud grin on his face that he quickly turned towards his partner in crime, eager to show the catch.

"Ta-!" His words got caught in his throat, unable to come out at the sight that greeted him when he turned towards the red-head. Although her chakra had only affected the fish in the water, it seemed other animals had come to enjoy the sound of her song as well. Small red and brown birds chirped quietly beside the girl's feet and one brave gold feathered bird landed on her head, making a soft chirp as it nested in her hair beside her horns. Light shined down upon the scene and Tayuya's eyes reflected that light as they slowly opened, still whistling softly while holding up one hand with a red bird resting on her finger. She stared blankly at it, watching it made its own cry into the air to match her song, though it fell back into mild chirps once it realized it was completely outmatched.

Naruto, completely focused on the scene with his mouth agape and eyes wide, failed to realize the chakra had stopped affecting the fish and they wiggled around in his hand for freedom. The slippery fish and lack of focus made Naruto let out a gasp of surprise as they dropped from his hands, each landing on the side of the stream and bouncing back into the water after each landing on Naruto's foot, making the boy wince in annoyance more than pain, but the suddenness of it made him lose his balance, causing him to fall over into the water with a loud splash.

Tayuya, unable to keep a straight face from the sight along with the wet slapping sounds the fish made upon impact with the blonde's foot, began to laugh. She made a loud 'pfft' sound before bursting into laughter, ignoring the birds flying away from her into the tree tops from her laughter and the splash. "Ha! Fucking Shithead can't even hold onto fish!" She teased, a wide smile on her face, while light continued to pour down onto her.

… A smile Naruto just _stared_ at after he sat up with water covered his whole form, trying to understand the sudden flush of heat on his cheeks.

* * *

 _ **Chapter... END!**_

 _ **The very ending of this chapter could probably use some work, but I tossed it up after editing for this preview because I could**_ **not** ** _figure out where to stop the story. Best I could have done was stopped it after Naruto got kidnapped, but that would have been... about 6 pages or so? Not exactly chapter worthy. Maybe a prologue, but that's not really a thing for this._**

 _ **But anyways, the basis of this idea is a way to get Tayuya to be a main character without really putting her in Konoha's hands right away, while also introducing a major plot that focuses heavily on Naruto and Tayuya's disappearance after the Sound 5 fight which wasn't really touched on, just hinted at. A lot of things are up in the air for this one, but let me say that it was a pretty vague idea that still needed some work. I could just say outright what the plot was going to turn into, but I'll say the title is a pretty major hint of what the next... I dunno, 10 chapters or so would've been? Even had a pretty nifty villain going to pop up in a chapter or two that led to a brutal scene.**_

 _ **That being said... even with my plans for this story, I don't see myself finishing it, though honestly I probably just need a bit more inspiration for what comes later.**_

 _ **Hinata was also going to be a major character with Sakura and Kakashi being pushed slowly into the background until they finally got over themselves and stepped forward again as better characters. Mostly Sakura on the 'over themselves' thing, but you can check my author profile for how I feel about /that/ character! Anyways...**_

 _ **Hope you enjoyed the intro/preview and I'm thinking I should probably put more plot related stuff in the A/N here, but at the same time, I don't want to just spoil the whole thing, y'know? In case I ever do write it. Part of reading a story is enjoying the journey, not just having everything tossed onto your plate. Still, with this being a "Unfinished Plot" thing, I should probably clear up some stuff too just to make sure it's obvious where this story would've gone...**_

 _ **But maybe not. All I'll say unless told otherwise for this story is: It gets pretty brutal.**_ _ **The Character Development you've seen in this preview also has a lot of reasons for happening so fast. Why the two felt so close from the get-go to the point where they'd share their past and secrets.**_

 _ **And no, it doesn't have anything to do with the Kyuubi. But anyways...**_

 _ **See you for the next one! Thinking it's going to be a Ranma one, but we'll see what happens.**_


	6. Oracle of Nemesis (Ch1)

The Oracle of Nemesis by Yasha-HebiHime

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and Sailor Moon are owned by respectively. I own nothing except the idea that brought this story on.

Summary: Dreams often tell a story and reveal hidden meanings about one's self, but Ranma is realizing that these 'stories' might just come true. AU.

Or

A beast looms at the edge of Ranma's thoughts, threatening to destroy everything he had ever known. Will this beast succeed in this senseless destruction? Or will Ranma find the strength and allies to stop it?

TimeLine: Set after the failed wedding (post Saffron) and Galaxia.

Warning: The time frame is altered in this story to an extent. All Ranma characters are the same age as they are at the end of the manga, but more time has passed. They're nearing the end of the year for school, which will make Nabiki on her last year of High School next year. All the main Sailor Moon characters are similar ages, being around Ranma's age of 16. Haruka and Michiru are both attending their first year at college and Hotaru is in junior high.

Text Labels:

"Speech"

 _'Thought'_

 _ **Hello everyone! Welcome to a story I've had in my mind for a good three to five years now. Only recently did I start writing it again, but the idea itself has been scripted for a long time. While the overall details are still up in the air, the baseline of "Point A to Point B to Point C" have all been written out and confirmed as events. Some things may change if I get to the end, but the overall idea is going to be a finished project.**_

 _ **Basically: This story has an ending. Unlike my other stories which never have a confirmed ending upon being created, this one does. It always has and always will. What it will evolve into by the end is still up in the air, since there are years apart from when I write several pages, but it is still a story with an ending.**_

 _ **That being said, I have trouble actually sitting down and finishing it. So I decided to toss it up on my unfinished plot lists and see what people think. Who knows? If this gets enough love, or at least comparable love to the first story in this, I might actually sit down and finish it! It has 90 pages or so overall, right now, but I'm going to only post the first 3 chapters.**_

 _ **But I hope you enjoy them, regardless of the outcome.**_

* * *

Two blue eyes snapped open, only to close once again as a bright light shined into them from the flames dancing in front of their owner. The owner of these eyes warily made her way forward with her red hair shining from the light the flames gave off. Slowly she opened her eyes once more but only squinted now from the intense flames that slid down the thick wooden walls of the place she once called home.

She felt the need to cry out in torment, but held her tongue as she saw the cause of those flames stepping over her home, its thick black colored leg slamming down and raising up enough dust and dirt to coat the red head in a thin veil while snuffing out a bit of the flame it had started up. She paid no mind to the dirt now surrounding her body as she glared angrily up at the beast that towered over her like a skyscraper.

"You bastard." She spat out, her thin hands clenching into fists as the beast glanced down at her with what one could call a smirk on its fat horse-like face. "You _bastard!_ " She cried out again, jumping high into the air and slamming her fists into its massive chest. The beast barely flinched even as one punch turned to thousands in an instant, but the red head found herself unable to pierce the thick armor-like scales the beast had covering most of its body. So caught up in her anger she barely noticed a fist coming down at her from above and just barely kicked off the beast in time to dodge it.

It laughed as she fell back down to earth, landing on the crumbling wall beside the small pool of water that she had often paid a visit to during her morning spars with her father. The thought caused her teeth to clench as she realized she would never experience those fights again; nor would she ever visit the pool with a splash, as the water had been thrown out of the pond during the monster's attack.

The creature threw another heavy fist at her, but only hit the wall she was standing on and causing it to turn into complete rubble from its massive fist. She was already on the move again, running straight up the arm it had extended and up towards its face. It merely laughed at her efforts and three thick tentacle-like appendages flew towards her from its back, threatening to pierce her completely with their massive size and sharp ends.

She hopped over the first one as it attempted to impale her and simply cut the second one in half with a blade of wind that extended from her arm. The third attempted to slap her off the creature's arm, but was blown apart by a golden orb flying from her hand.

Despite its failure to remove her from its arm, the creature did not let up in its laughter and continued to send tentacle after tentacle towards her. Each were dodged or blown apart by the woman, but when she reached the creature's head its neck suddenly snapped forward like a snake, catching the red head completely off guard as its jaws closed around her.

She cried out in its mouth as she began to slide down its slick tongue, her arms flailing about wildly with blades of air slicing at the creature's mouth and creating massive bleeding gashes along its tongue and the roof of its mouth. The creature seemed to not notice the damage she was inflicting upon it and continued to swallow her with its disfigured tongue slapping at her back to get her to fall down its throat.

The woman tried desperately to hold on but as the creature tilted its head upward she found herself with nothing to hold onto but a hole she made in its tongue. Her efforts were in vain however as the wounds she had inflicted began to heal at a rapid pace, including the hole she was holding onto. The curved slick surface remade itself and removed the last bit of grip she had, causing her to fall down into the abyss below...

She looked down as she fell, her hands pointed forward towards the seemingly bottomless pit that she had fallen into. As a golden glow began to wrap around her body and form an orb around her hands, she smiled to herself as she allowed tears to drip down her cheeks. "See you soon..." She said to herself, just as the golden glow exploded outwards from her body and then...

* * *

"Saotome Ranma!" A loud voice snapped, followed by a heavy crash as Ranma fell out of her chair, her eyes spinning as she stared up at the ceiling. Laughter met her ears, though it quickly died down as a familiar woman stood over her, her left eyebrow raised while she stared at him with her brown eyes. "Sleeping in my class again, Saotome?" The woman questioned, annoyance clear in her tone.

The woman was Ranma's English teacher, Hinako Ninomiya. The currently tall and busty woman was also the school's disciplinary, although she had punished the Principal who hired her as well for his crazy actions. She did this by using a special Ki draining technique that altered her body into the shape she was in now, as she was normally the size of a young girl in elementary.

Ranma idly wondered who she had drained already, since she could feel her own Ki reserves being untouched.

The lack of response, however, was not the best action if she wanted to keep her reserves full, as the woman was already pulling out her coin. "Sleeping still, Saotome!?" She snapped, seeming much more irritable than usual.

"N.. No ma'am!" Ranama spat out, hoping to her feet in one smooth motion and holding her hands up defensively. A quick glance noted that only one person seemed to be drained in the room, one Akane Tendo, who was one of Ranma's many fiancee. The girl had her head flat on the desk with a visible drained look on her body, which fully explained to Ranma on why Hinako was in such a bad mood.

Akane Tendo was known for her quick temper and her Ki reflected that. It was sharp, heavy, and dangerous. There were some gentle sides to her, but overall she allowed her Ki to reflect her anger... and Hinako had absorbed that. The woman was probably not aware that her ability to eat Ki affected her mental state as well, since she seemed to forget any events that happened that were out of the ordinary for her.

Like when she hunted the Principal down after draining the rage-filled statue. That was fun.

"Are you listening, Saotome!?" Ranma's eyes snapped back towards Hinako and she mentally smacked herself for being distracted, though she didn't show it on her face.

"Y.. Yes Ma'am... I'm sorry for sleeping." She muttered, still holding her hands up in case she decided to start draining her. Hinako required Ranma to make an 'aura' for her to drain, but the red head didn't want to chance that she found a way to drain without it.

Hinako just clicked her tongue in annoyance, before pointing towards the door. "Hallway! Now!" Ranma sighed to herself, but obeyed, heading to the hallway and lifting a large wooden stick from beside the door, along with two buckets of cold water. Placing the stick over her shoulders, Ranma slid out of the room, just as Hinako spoke up again, "Now, turn back to page..."

Her words died out as She closed the door, leaving her alone as the stick on her shoulders shifted. The silence of the hallway let her clear her thoughts, which brought her attention back to what exactly she was dreaming of before Hinako woke her up. Dreams of fighting weren't exactly uncommon for Ranma, since she fought someone or something on a regular basis, but...

Usually the dreams were of previous fights. Fights she feared the outcome of. The fight with Saffron, the Phoenix King, who had nearly taken the lives of people she cared about was a common one, especially the final blow. The constant feeling of holding Akane's nearly dead body in her arms...

Well, his arms at the time.

But the previous dream was different. It had not been a past fight, nor had Ranma ever fought such a massive creature. Seeing the Tendo Dojo destroyed, and vague memories of the depressing thoughts of never being able to spar with her father again...

 _'It was very real.'_ Ranma thought to herself, closing her eyes and letting the buckets shift beside her. _'But... It's probably just Old Ghoul trying to mess with me again, though she has been quiet lately.'_ The thought gave Ranma no peace, however, as she knew something was up.

After spending so much time in the chaotic Nerima, it was impossible to not develop a sixth sense for that sort of thing.

 _'Ah well.'_ She thought to herself, yawning slightly. _'No point in worrying about it. Whatever it is will show itself eventually.'_ With that in mind, the red head allowed herself to rest...

* * *

The rest of the day went rather slowly for Ranma. A majority of her time was spent wondering if the creature from her dream would show up, or whoever made her have that dream would approach her. But nothing came, and she soon began to dismiss it entirely as nothing more than a dream.

As the day settled down, Ranma sighed to himself as he slid into his futon, having switched back to his male persona soon after arriving home. His mother and father were both a bit... hostile when it came to his female form, though Genma, his father, seemed to stop caring to a certain degree.

He didn't want his child doing things he found "girly", but as someone who was cursed as well, he understood the annoyance of switching back and forth between forms.

Ranma's mother on the other hand...

 _'Well, that's another story.'_ Ranma glumly thought to himself, sighing a bit as he closed his eyes. It was a bit early to sleep compared to how he usually slept, but he felt rather... drained lately, ever since the failed wedding attempt with Akane.

 _That_ little disaster had left the two feeling a bit distant, but mostly because of Ranma's own body just feeling tired. Having to deal with Saffron and then having to deal with all of his rivals in one place had left very little down time for the martial artist to recover.

Which meant sleep was a boon he was too eager to take advantage of, and thus why he had retreated to his room right after dinner. He had no doubt _someone_ would interrupt him, but for now, it was best he get as much sleep as possible...

With that in mind, he closed his eyes...

* * *

A warning signal went off in Ranma's head as he felt his body awaken, and he let out a low groan as he felt the dampness of his form and the slight chill in the air. His bright blue eyes opened up and he looked down, unsurprised to see that not only was he not in his original _male_ form, but that the white tank top _she_ was wearing left absolutely nothing to the imagination due to the water sticking to her chest.

Irritation bubbled in her stomach, but she forced it down as she rose to her feet, heading for the closet in the room to get her clothes ready. Getting upset over waking up like this would solve nothing, as she knew exactly who was to blame... and that there was no way to actually get back at _her._

Still, it was a slightly better way than how she normally woke up. Normally, she'd have to deal with her father kicking her out the window for morning training, but the man had been surprisingly... understanding as of late.

 _'Probably 'cause of what happened with Saffron.'_ The red-head reasoned to herself as she slid on her regular dark red Chinese silk. With Saffron, the martial artist had been forced to do the one choice even her father did not make likely...

The choice to take a life.

Of course, there was a large difference between killing a human and killing a _Phoenix God_ , but the choice remained the same. Even though Ranma could expect Saffron to return at some point, hopefully with less of an attitude, she had still fully intended to kill him for endangering her friends...

 _'Especially Akane.'_ She added quietly, pulling on the strings of her silk pants to tighten them around her small waist. The two may have not been on the best of terms, but Akane was the closest thing she had to a real relationship...

To her, at least. Any outsider would claim otherwise, but Ranma was not privy to their thoughts.

Nor would she listen anyways.

A call of "Breakfast!" was heard suddenly through the door, and Ranma smiled a bit to herself at the sound of Kasumi's voice. She slapped her cheeks suddenly, clearing her head as she went for the door with a slight sigh.

It wouldn't go over well if she showed up at the table with a depressing air around her.

As she walked down to the 'dining' room, she paused briefly as she saw Nabiki's door was currently cracked open, and she frowned a bit at the thought of the 'middle' sister of the Tendo family. The girl was a pain in Ranma's side, constantly teasing and betraying him, or her, and often tossed water on Ranma while 'he' was sleeping.

All to take pictures of 'Her' to sell to the male masses. And while it brought pride to Ranma's ego that she could cause such desire without even meaning to, it was also bothersome that it was done more or less behind her back. Ranma also understood that she was just a freeloader to the Tendo family...

Not that she had a choice, but she allowed Nabiki to keep taking pictures whenever she wanted. Sometimes, she'd even do a pose while pretending to be asleep, and it seemed the girl had never caught on. As if anyone really curled up that much while sleeping...

Staring at the crack in the door frame again, Ranma slowly moved closer to peek through. Though Ranma felt she did owe the girl _some_ money, she was still curious what exactly she had taken this time. As the blue eyes looked through the door way, Ranma was a bit surprised to see Nabiki sitting quietly at a desk directly in front of the crack the red-head was looking through.

The 'Mercenary', as she was typically called by her peers, was fiddling with a small silver computer with her back to the door. Ranma could barely make out her own body on the screen past Nabiki's shoulder, and resisted the urge to groan as she saw it was the pictures she had suspected the girl had taken just today.

A picture of her on her back with her breasts perfectly outlined by the wet tank top she wore, just like how she woke.

 _'Damn Nabs, making a picture like that...'_ She shook her head slightly, moving away from the door and down the stairs past Akane's room, which was beside Nabiki's. _'Still, gotta admit I look damn good.'_ That brought a slight grin to the girl's face, wondering how many photos would cause the students at Furinkan High School to have massive nose bleeds. But she dismissed the thought with a soft laugh.

She could get that sort of reaction just walking down the street, after all, and that was while she was fully dressed!

Shaking her head a bit to clear her thoughts, Ranma frowned slightly as she opened up the door to the dining room as she felt the first scent of breakfast hit her nose. It was a familiar scent, one she was sure she had smelled some-what recently, and...

"Red beans and rice?" A sudden voice interrupted as Genma shoved past her roughly, not even bothering to look back as he took a seat at the table. "What is the occasion, Kasumi?" He asked curiously, looking up towards the 'house keeper' and ignoring the glare Ranma sent his way as she sat across from him.

Kasumi smiled a bit with a blush on her face, putting more of the rice into bowls for the rest of the family. "W... Well, I would like to wait to tell everyone first, Mr. Saotome." Genma arched his eyebrow slightly, but shrugged indifferently.

Ranma, however, tilted her head slightly as she pondered over what the rice could mean. The last time it had came up, it was when she was stuck as a girl when Cologne, a powerful but very old Amazon, had hit a "Full Body Cat's Tongue" pressure point. Which caused any hot water to send the girl flying out of it, screaming in pain as it burned her skin.

The rice was not directly related to that, and was instead related to how she had spent over a month as a girl... resulting in her first ever period. Which Kasumi had been informed about quickly, and had prepared red beans and rice for the "special occasion."

Despite it embarrassing Ranma to no end, since he wasn't truly a woman.

But that still left the question as to what it could be now, since Ranma was quite sure every other female in the house had went through that... They were born women, after all, and had spent far more than a simple month in their female bodies.

 _'Guess I just haveta wait and see, huh?'_ Ranma thought to herself, shrugging as she saw the rest of the family slowly wander into the room. Nabiki was the last one of the family to enter, and like all the others before her, she gave Kasumi a curious look after seeing the red beans and rice.

"What's up, Sis?" Nabiki questioned as she took her usual spot near the TV.

Kasumi smiled as she handed her father, Soun, who took a spot at the 'front' of the table as the head of the house always did, and giggled to herself.

"Well, it is a bit selfish, really, but..." The woman squirmed a bit, which was rather out of character for her. The woman was usually calm and collected, offering only a smile in the face of most situations... But now she was wiggling and giggling like a school girl, which was far more animated than she usually was.

Akane, unable to keep her confused expression off her face, tilted her head at her sister's antics. "What is going on, Onee-chan? Did something big happen?" There wasn't anything that she was aware of, but...

Kasumi giggled again, placing her hands on her cheeks as they lit up in a dark blush. "Oh, it's nothing, really... It's just that... Doctor Tofu asked me out yesterday." Soun, who had been taking a sip of the prepared tea, spit it out with tears coming to his eyes.

The rest of the family quickly shut the man out of their senses as he wailed about his 'little girl growing up and leaving her father behind.' The rest of the family also had to speak louder in order to get their words over his voice, since there was an understanding it would be nearly impossible to get him to stop.

"That's wonderful!" Akane cheered, smiling while Nabiki snorted slightly.

"About time... Where is he taking you?" Ranma rolled her eyes a bit, starting to eat as she half-listened to the conversation.

"A restaurant in Juuban... The Silver Tiara. It's apparently very fancy." Kasumi answered, giggling a bit as Nabiki let out a slight whistle of amazement. Ranma, however, paused mid-bite as she heard the name, a faint unease coming to her chest.

Nabiki shook her head slightly, smirking a bit. "That _is_ pretty fancy. I've heard about that place. How'd Tofu get his hands on..."

"Now girls, it's not polite to inquire someone of such things..." Nodoka Saotome interrupted, frowning from her spot beside Ranma. Nabiki bowed her head slightly, her face neutral as Nodoka smiled towards Kasumi. "But this Doctor Tofu sounds like quite the man. How long have you known him?"

"Oh, he has been the family doctor for quite awhile." Kasumi admitted, blinking a bit as she saw Ranma raise to her feet. "Oh, leaving already, Ranma-Kun? I made plenty of rice."

Ranma smiled, shaking his head as she tried to keep her face neutral, feeling the unease creep into her chest still. "Ah, yeah. I needah make sure I'm not late again. Last time ol' Hinako-Sensei nearly blasted me outta the class." Kasumi nodded a bit, smiling.

"I'll be sure to save you some for later then. Your bento is in the kitchen." Ranma nodded, smiling as she exited the room quickly, ignoring the stare of her mother as she left.

She could not, however, ignore the words she heard.

"Honestly, my child does need to lose that unmanly form... It is becoming too... regular to behold."

The red-head felt her eye twitch a bit as she sighed, entering the kitchen and retrieving her bento from the kitchen counter, leaving Akane's on the counter as she went for the door. Slipping on her black silk shoes that rested beside the door, and grabbing the bag that rested beside them, the martial artist quickly cleared the wall that surrounded the Tendo house hold with a single leap.

Her thoughts drifted to what her mother had said and she felt herself twitch again. _'Not like I asked for the dang curse.'_ She thought to herself irritably, shaking her head a bit as she hopped up onto the nearby fence, placing her bento into her bag. Slinging the back onto her back, with her arms going through the loops, she resisted the urge to sigh as she kept walking.

 _'But.. what was that feeling? The Silver... Tiara... Why does that sound so damn familiar?'_ It was like an itch in her brain, one she couldn't quite scratch either. Nothing came to mind and thinking about it just made it seem harder to understand.

 _'Bah, whatever.'_ She suddenly thought after a few moments of pondering, shrugging her shoulders as she reached the gates of Furinkan High School. _'It'll turn up eventually. Ain't like I got a clue anyways.'_

She nodded as if agreeing with herself, which caused a minor lapse in concentration as she walked towards the school's front doors. This caused her to run straight into a large man, who simply appeared in front of her as she blinked. "Oof.. Sorry, uh..." She twitched, noticing the red rose in front of her face and slowly looked up...

… Into the sunglasses of Principal Kuno, who was grinning widely down at her. "Oh great... You're back." The red-head muttered, taking a step back as she felt irritation bubble inside herself. The man was a known trouble maker, constantly going on about cutting everyone's hair into bowl cuts in order to make them 'perfect students.'

He had been blasted away by Hinako just a month or two ago, and hadn't been back since. It was a blessing for the students and teachers at Furinkan, as he made it difficult for everyone by introducing new rules and 'events' that dictated the freedom of the students.

Which usually came down to Ranma being the one who had to deal with him.

"What do you want this time?" Dread was already beginning to form in the girl's stomach as she saw the man's grin grow wider, which Ranma compared to a monkey's smile in the back of her mind.

The amusement that image gave her was tossed aside as he began to speak. "Well, ya be seein' now that I didn't expect ya to be 'round so early, Saotome Ranma!" She winced slightly from the man's thick, yet some how still obviously fake, Hawaiian accent. "Ya see, Kekkei, I been settin' up another special 'round for everybody!"

"Special round?" Ranma repeated, curiosity in her voice despite herself. The man grinned at her, holding up a coconut in his left hand, and causing the girl to sigh a bit. "This stunt again? You did the whole coconut thing the first time you got here."

"Ah, ah, ah~" The Principal waved his finger on his free hand at her, shaking his head. "No no no, Kekkei! I not be hidin' somethin' in here this time. No, the goal is ta find the golden Coconut! I be announcin' it later for allllll of my little kekkei's and then..."

"And if you don't find it, then everyone gets hair cuts?" Ranma finished, rolling her eyes at the excited nod of his head. "Right, well..." She paused, frowning as she narrowed her eyes a bit. "Wait, why are you telling me this and not just waiting for later?"

Surprisingly, the man's grin fell as he got a slightly more serious expression, staring down at her through his sunglasses. "Because, Kekkei, ya be the only one that stops me. So I gotta take ya out first."

Ranma blinked, barely having time to mouth 'Take me out first..?' to herself before a coconut slammed into her head. Now, a regular coconut would not cause any damage to Ranma. Especially ones that the man usually used that were hollow inside to store things.

But _this_ coconut hit her head _hard_ , about as hard as her rival Ryoga could hit. But unlike Ryoga, the attack didn't come from the middle of battle where she had expected it. It simply happened, and caught her off guard.

The result was her falling to the ground, groaning with a large bump on her head as the world started to go dark.

* * *

It was about an hour later that Ranma woke up, frowning as she felt ropes wrapped tightly around her body as she hung upside down in the principals office by a hook on the ceiling. She was tied from her knees all the way to her chest with her arms being held firmly at her sides, leaving her unable to do much.

The office was surprisingly normal compared to the last time she was here, where it had taken the appearance of a island surrounded by the ocean.

Now it looked rather simple with a desk on the ground in front of her dangling body with a large chair sitting behind it. It was only the picture of the three members of the Kuno family that alerted her as to where she was. Who else would have a picture of _that_ family on their desk?

The most surprising thing for Ranma was that her hair was still in tact. In fact, it was completely untouched and she could feel the pigtail hit against her head a bit as she swayed in the air.

 _'Guess that bastard has_ some _honor after all... Meh, prolly not.'_ She shook her head slightly, sighing as she began to work her body back and forth to make the ropes sway. _'Probably just thought it'd be too easy.'_ An annoying thought, but one she actually appreciated for once.

She wouldn't look good with a bowl cut.

She shook her head slightly and continued to swing herself back and forth, until the force allowed her to bend her body upwards to look at the hook on the ceiling. The rope was just looked around it and the hook had an opening where the rope had been slid on, which gave her a chance to escape on her own.

 _'Perfect... Just have to swing a bit harder.'_ And so she did, her body working back and forth quickly, raising the loop on the hook closer and closer to the tip. After a minute or so of doing it, she grinned as she felt gravity suddenly take hold of her, sending the girl flying forward...

.. and straight towards the opening door.

Her eyes widened quickly as she saw the door to the office opening up, but she stayed quiet in case it was the principal who was opening it. Sadly, it was not, but instead was one Akane Tendo, who had only a brief moment to have her own eyes widen as Ranma's form slammed into her, sending the two into the hallway.

After a brief moment of the two laying there with matching spirals in their eyes, Akane groaned and shoved the red-head off of her body with an angry huff. "Watch it, pervert! Don't just jump on me like that!" The blue-haired Fiancee spat out, an irritated tone to her voice.

"Ain't like I planned on it, tomboy!" Ranma quickly retorted, squirming on her side in her binds. "Now help me outta these things!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" The girl snapped, but started to undo Ranma's binds anyways. She huffed in irritation, struggling with the first loop. "How'd you even get like this?"

"Better question is why you're here." Ranma quipped, wincing as Akane tightened down one of the ropes onto her arms. "Watch it..!"

"Sorry." Akane said, in a voice that had anything but sincerity in it. "Just out of it from being jumped on when I came to help!" Ranma clicked her tongue a bit, her eye twitching briefly.

"Like I said, I didn't plan on it, tomboy! I was just getting myself down and then... bam! You were there!" A slight 'uh huh' met her ears and she let out an annoyed sigh, feeling the ropes start to loosen around her body. "Anyways, that stupid Principal knocked me upside the head with a … coconut or somethin'. I got no idea. Went on 'bout some event and..."

"That already started, but we haven't caught him yet." Akane interrupted, starting to undo a second knot. "Mr. Principal said we have to find some golden coconut, and that you wouldn't be able to assist until you were rescued."

"Bastard."

Akane rolled her eyes a bit, frowning as she undid the rest of Ranma's binds. _'Honestly, this idiot... Getting knocked out by a...'_ Suddenly, she frowned a bit, pausing in undoing the binds on her fiance as she considered what the red-head had just told her.

 _'Knocked out by a … coconut?'_ Something about that didn't quite add up. While Akane hated to admit it, she knew that Ranma was possibly one of the best martial artists in Nerima, probably _the_ best if she was completely honest, and the guy had been punched with the force of mountains more times than she could count.

A coconut, no matter how tough, wouldn't knock the martial artist out so easily, which meant...

"The coconut!" She suddenly shouted, standing up quickly, much to Ranma's confusion.

"The … coconut?" She repeated, squirming a bit as she felt her body being a bit more free, but not as much as she would like. "And uh, 'Kane, I'm still..."

"The coconut is the golden coconut! He's distracting us from it!" Ranma blinked at that sudden revelation, her head tilting slightly.

"Yeah, guess that makes sense. Was kinda wonderin' how he... Hey wait, where the hell are you going!?" The last part was shouted as she saw her fiancee run down the hall, most likely to inform the rest of the student body. Ranma clicked her tongue in annoyance, but sighed as she closed her eyes.

 _'Guess we do this the hard way.'_ She thought quietly, feeling her ki flow through her body slowly. A moment later, the ropes fell from her body, cut perfectly on the side where they had been touching her arms.

Standing up, the girl rolled her shoulders a bit and cracked her neck once, letting out a satisfied groan as she felt the bones pop. "Ah, that's better... Just can't tell Pop 'bout that one." She had used the technique he had made her swear to seal away, after all.

But honor meant very little to that man, and respecting his wishes meant even less to Ranma after the failed wedding. Knocking out Ranma and forcing him into a tux after dealing with a life-and-death situation was a pretty... honorless thing to do. Not exactly the first time he did it, either.

Ranma sighed, cracking her knuckles as she walked down the hallway after Akane.

It was time to find a coconut.

* * *

The chase had taken more time than Ranma enjoyed, but in the end almost no one had to actually attend class... Which resulted in a very irritated Hinako, but the principal had kept her busy with a bucket of candy. The woman may have been in her twenties, but when she was a young child...

Well, sometimes her emotions got a hold of her.

But in the end, the students were spared haircuts after Ranma landed a solid kick onto the Principal's form, sending the golden coconut right into Akane's arms. It turned out that the coconut was just covered in thick brown paint, which wiped off with just a bit of water.

The plan was a bit lack luster compared to his usual antics, though, and Ranma wondered what the man had really planned to do. It's likely he underestimated the martial artist again, but...

Regardless, the end result was a rather tired Ranma as she stumbled home, a slight yawn escaping her throat as she made her way home, walking along the fence. Akane, who was walking beside Ranma on the ground gave the red-head a worried look.

"You've been tired a lot lately." Akane noted, causing Ranma to pause for a moment from the amount of concern in her fiancee's voice. But, as if sensing her mistake, Akane hastily added, "Not that I care what a pervert like you feels, but your constant yawning is annoying. Plus you get _me_ in trouble when you sleep in class."

Ranma clicked her tongue a bit, shrugging her shoulders. "Can't help it. Ain't my fault I can't catch a break." Akane rolled her eyes, shaking her head slightly.

"It _is_ your fault. You could just..."

"Oh, look at the time." Ranma interjected, looking at her non-existant watch on her wrist and starting to speed up along the fence. "Gotta catch some shut eye before somethin' else pops up. See ya!"

Akane could only watch in annoyance as the red-head disappeared with one powerful jump, and she sighed heavily. Honestly, when would that _idiot_ get it together?

* * *

Ranma let out a puff of air as she fell down onto her futon, not even bothering to change or soak in the furo to change back into her male self. It would only result in _something_ going wrong. It always did.

 _'I want to soak for a bit? Shampoo pops up out of the bath like she belongs there. I want to change back real quick? Ryoga hops into the bath and yells at me. I get through one bath and start to get out? Akane is there at the door, ignoring the 'Do not disturb' sign, and yet_ I'm _the pervert.'_

Ranma shook her head, sighing and allowing herself to frown as she stared up at the wood ceiling above. It was rare she let her thoughts linger on such troublesome matters, but even more rare that she had the chance to. Which was an annoying thought on its own.

 _'Best I just sleep it off. Maybe I'll wake up super late and get some trainin' in. Been feelin' a tad rusty.'_ Not to say she didn't practice her martial arts kata regularly enough that it was drilled deep into her body, but today had been one of the exceptions where she did almost _nothing_ related to martial arts.

Aside from kicking the Principal's rear out of the school, but that barely counted.

With a heavy sigh, Ranma closed her eyes...

* * *

… and opened them again with a heavy frown, feeling her body having a damp feeling to it once again and the chill of the air pushing against her.

 _'Okay, what the hell Nabs?'_ She thought bitterly to herself, looking down in irritation at the white tank top she wore. Her breasts were perfectly outlined again, as expected, and yet...

 _'Why the hell did she splash me again? I was already a girl, and... where is my shirt?'_ Alarm bells were slowly going off in Ranma's head as she sat up, frowning and heading for her closet once more. _'I swear if she stole my shirt...'_ Ranma only had two of those, a red one and a blue one, along with a couple other outfits which were mostly for his female form...

Which had been stored away after his mother had moved into the Tendo house. After all, why would a 'man amongst men' need a sun dress? Even if it got her free ice cream faster than her usual silks did? The woman _did_ let her keep her bikini and a one piece, since she couldn't swim in a male form, but...

 _'Still irritatin' to have my stuff taken... I paid for that!'_ She huffed, snapping her closet open and frowning at the sight of the silk outfit being right where she thought it would be, hanging up on a small hook. _'Hmm... Dunno why she took it off me... But I guess it's fine.'_ The girl shrugged, pulling the outfit out of the closet and starting to pull it on.

She paused as she stared out the window of her room, seeing the faintest bit of her reflection in it. But more importantly, she could see the morning sun, just starting to raise up over the hills.

"How long did I sleep?" She wondered aloud, shaking her head a bit. "Guess I was more tired than I thought." She hadn't felt _that_ tired, nor did she believe for a second that she was actually allowed to sleep that long without someone trying to kill her in some way, shape, or form.

 _'Something fishy is going on...'_

A sudden call of "Breakfast!" met her ears and she felt herself smile at the upbeat tone to Kasumi's voice, starting to head out into the hallway. It sounded like the date with Tofu had gone well if she was that happy.

 _'Good for them... Still kinda wanna know what that feeiln' was I got from hearin' that name. The Silver Tiara...'_ Just thinking it made her stomach churn slightly with some strange itch. She shook her head a bit, but paused in the hall as she noticed Nabiki's door was open, just a slight crack.

 _'Again? That's not like Nabs.'_ The girl was known to not make the same mistake twice, unless even more money was on the line. To have left her door open _twice_... Ranma frowned, peeking through the door crack again to see what the middle-Tendo was doing.

Just like yesterday, she was sitting at a desk with a small computer in front of her... and the same image of Ranma with the wet tank top on her screen. Now, Ranma wasn't completely certain what Nabiki really did with the photos she took besides selling them, but she did know the woman loved profit and knew how to milk people for their money. It was similar to how easy it was for Ranma to get ice cream for free in her female body.

It was just second nature for them to get exactly what they wanted, so Ranma could understand how Nabiki did her business... Which caused alarm bells to ring loudly in Ranma's ears as she moved away from the door, knowing Nabiki was far too smart to break the one rule:

Do not repeat.

While selling the same tune and dance to an ice cream vendor could work, it was unlikely that Ranma could pull off the "I forgot my wallet!" act more than once on the same guy. It simply didn't work, no matter how much charm she put on. She had to make it different when dealing with the same person.

Nabiki's 'photo selling' was no different. Ranma knew no one would buy the same photo over and over, except one of the Kuno's but they were crazy. Even then, she was sure Kuno wouldn't want the same, exact picture of her body... A slightly different angle would probably entice him, but not the same one.

All of these facts led to a slightly panicked Ranma who felt her heart beat faster as she stepped down the stairs quickly. _'Something... Something is wrong.'_ She thought, sounding more nervous in her own head than she would have liked. She took a deep breath to steady herself, and shook her head to clear her thoughts as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

 _'No, okay. Calm down. Deep breath. Find your center. Soul of ice.'_ She shuddered a bit, slowly making her way to the dining room with her body relaxing slowly, as her aura became colder and smoother. _'It's fine. It's definitely nothing strange. As long as Kasumi doesn't...'_ She slid the door open... and froze as a familiar scent reached her nose.

Once again, her father pushed past her, but she didn't even register his words as she made her way to her own seat. She sat down with a blank expression on her face, watching as Kasumi slid food into the awaiting bowls.

The food was, just as it was yesterday, red beans and rice.

Kasumi's words were even the exact same, saying she wanted to wait for everyone else to explain. Then, just as before, Nabiki was the one to ask what the occasion was, and Soun started howling as Kasumi said that Doctor Tofu had asked her out... _yesterday_ to go to the Silver Tiara _tomorrow._

The only difference so far was that Ranma could not bring herself to eat, too stunned by the events matching the exact ones she had experienced just yesterday. She gulped down her nervousness, starting to standup while Kasumi was speaking.

"Oh, he has been the family doctor for quite awhile." Kasumi admitted, blinking a bit as she saw Ranma raise to her feet. "Oh, leaving already, Ranma-Kun? I made plenty of rice." Ranma flinched at the warm smile Kasumi sent her way and forced herself to smile in return.

"A.. Ah, yeah. Uh, I can't be late again... Um, Hinako-Sensei almost blasted me last time." Kasumi nodded, as if it explained everything and smiled at the red-head.

"Alright. Your bento is in the kitchen."

The martial artist hastily nodded, moving out of the room quickly. Once again, she heard her mother speak about her curse, and felt her own tooth bite hard on the bottom of her lip. She barely even registered that she grabbed her bento as she ran out of the house, leaving her bag by the door but sliding her shoes on quickly.

 _'Can't be true. Can't be true. Can't be...!'_ Ranma gulped as she reached the school gates in record time, starting to walk briskly forward towards the school's doors. As she got about half way, the Principal appeared in front of her, though she noticed that he actually rose out of the ground now that she wasn't bumping into him or nodding.

She also noticed the large coconut he had in his arm, which she suddenly snatched from him before he could even speak up. The man had clearly not expected that, as his hands rose up quickly. "Ah! Kekkei! Why you do this? I not even..!"

"Shut up!" She snapped, causing the man to flinch and blink in bewilderment as Ranma spat onto the coconut, rubbing at it roughly with the arm of her shirt. Slowly, the brown of the 'coconut' started to fade away and Ranma felt her throat go dry as she mutely dropped the coconut, which actually hit a hidden switch in the ground.

The switch caused the trap door the Principal had rose up from to open once more, resulting in the man falling down into the pit below, though not far enough to leave any lasting injuries. The red-head didn't care about that, however, as she turned and ran away from the school, her eyes wide as she ran.

But while her body ran fast, her mind was running even faster.

 _'It's the same day. It's the same goddamned day.'_ There was no other explanation for it. After all, nothing in Ranma's life ever happened so... so simply. _'Even the Nanban mirror wasn't exact, and that was time travel. Everything was kinda different, even if we only went back a step.'_

The girl hopped once, then twice up the side of a building before sitting on top of it, undoing the cloth on the bento she had and starting to eat it quickly, since she had not eaten breakfast this time. The food helped ease her nerves, and allowed her to focus on her task at hand; figuring the hell out what was going on.

 _'Okay, so I fell asleep, and then some how … saw how this day would go.'_ Her face scrunched up as she popped a chopstick full of rice into her mouth. _'But how? This hasn't happened before, and...'_ She stopped, suddenly, her eyes widening as the dots in her head slowly connected.

 _'Or... has it?'_

Contrary to what many people think about Ranma, the boy-turned-girl had a very active mind. Any one who said such a thing would be laughed at, as Ranma was considered just a 'martial arts jock', someone who was all muscle and no brain. But Ranma simply did not have proper schooling, and hardly any interaction with people that didn't want in his pants, or to kill him.

Which caused a lot of issues when it came to how he spoke and interacted with people.

But right now the red-head was not thinking about how she spoke, or how _he_ interacted with people. She was thinking about recent events, and her mind was already connecting the dots of recent events.

 _'This_ has _happened before. Just … yesterday. Didn't it? It felt so real and so did 'today.'_ She scrunched her nose up again, frowning at her use of words. _'So confusing... ugh. But anyways... If 'today' was real, and all that stuff really happened, then...'_

She paled, her food forgotten on her lap as she stared towards the Tendo Dojo from her seat on the building. She licked her lips to wet them as she felt them go dry, as images of fire burning in the distance and a massive monster towering over her burned into her mind.

 _'That... thing... is real.'_

* * *

 _ **Chapter... END!**_

 _ **With this, you've got an idea for the overall set up for this story and what it meant. Of course, a lot of stuff is still high in the air and the overall plotline has yet to be fully established for you, but...**_

 _ **Well, it's pretty clear what the ending is going to be, ne? Either absolute destruction, or victory.**_

… _**Or will it? Hmhm~**_

 _ **But anyways, this story is actually pretty unique compared to the rest that I've made, due to the scripting process. As said at the beginning, this one has always had a beginning, middle, and end. It was an idea I had years ago and to this day still lingers in the back of my mind, although the overall details come and go as they tend to do with my stories. It's also one of my favorite ideas I've had, mixing in my love for Sailor Moon crossovers with Ranma ½ once again, but also touching upon something I hate.**_

 _ **Time travel.**_

 _ **But I don't want to spoil anything in case I ever finish this, so you'll have to think about what that means on your own.**_

 _ **Look forward to chapters 2 and 3 before I go onto a different story entirely for this unfinished plot thing. If it gets enough love, I might post it as its own story, since I do write a few pages every now and then. Guess we'll wait and see!**_


	7. Oracle of Nemesis (Ch2)

**Here's Chapter 2 of "Oracle of Nemesis"! Still debating if that should be the final title, to be honest, but anyways... Not really much to note right here, but a bit more at the bottom!**

 **But I will say that I use His/Her for Ranma based on what body he's in to avoid confusion. Overall, though, he's still... well, Ranma. People will typically refer to him as a male.**

Text Labels: "Speech"

'Thought'

You know the rest.

* * *

Genma Saotome was not what you would call a wise man. A powerful and lazy man, sure. But not wise. He would not look at a situation and think _'What is the best course of action?'_ he would simply do what came to mind... Which usually led to disaster, as he was only interested in his own well being in the first place.

He was a man who sold his son for rice and pickles, only to steal him away in the dead of night after the rice had been devoured and his son was still hungry. He was a man who sold his son's hand in marriage to a good friend... and then promptly spit in the man's face and ran off with his food cart.

He was a man who would do anything for himself, no matter who got involved. Only his good friend Soun Tendo had thus been spared from his attitude, and only because that man was the only person Genma truly trusted. They had been through hell together, after all.

But if there was one thing he put above all else, even himself, it was the Art. The 'Anything Goes School of Martial Arts' was the one thing he could not betray, or sell away. It was the only thing in his life that he truly respected, even if he hated the one who created it.

So when he saw his son, or 'daughter' though he would never call him that, blast through the window of their shared room and dive straight towards him, gripping the opening of his karate gi and telling him to let her use the two techniques he himself had created... He frowned.

"I cannot, boy! The Umi-Sen Ken and Yama-Sen Ken are far too dangerous to..."

"Dammit, Pop! Get your head out of your ass for a second!" His child interrupted, and he resisted the urge to twitch as he felt her bosom push up against his chest as she stood on her toes to reach his eyes. She looked far too much like her mother for comfort... especially when _she_ was supposed to be a _he_.

Still, he was not one to bow to even his wife... as long as she wasn't threatening him with a blade, but that was a different matter. His 'son', no matter how much he looked like the woman he loved, would not break his will.

"No, boy! I cannot allow you to use such a technique! It is too powerful for you, and..."

"God dammit!" The sudden curse broke his speech again and he blinked, realizing that the child had let go of his gi. That didn't mean she was done with him, however, as she glared harshly with her bright blue eyes sparkling with promises of pain. "Give me permission or I'll beat it out of your sorry panda ass!"

Genma frowned a bit further, crossing his arms as he studied his young child carefully. It wasn't like Ranma to demand such things, especially after seeing the destructive power of the Yama-Sen Ken and the tempting nature of the Umi-Sen Ken. It simply wasn't Ranma's type of technique.

Genma _did_ respect Ranma as a martial artist, though he would never say it out loud, but he also knew mistakes could happen. One false move with the Yama-Sen Ken would result in a death that Ranma would be responsible for... and so would the art.

These were the words he was going to say to the boy, when he stopped, his eyes widening slowly as he studied his child again. The slight widening of her eyes, the deep way she was breathing, the way her body trembled... They all matched up with one possibility:

Ranma... was afraid.

The revelation hit him like a brick, and he felt his mouth hang open slightly as his arms fell to his sides. There had only been a few instances where Ranma had been afraid, and that was usually when the boy felt absolutely powerless... Such as when he lost all of his strength due to Happosai's pressure point, or when he could not turn back into a male at all because of _another_ pressure point the Amazon Cologne had forced upon him.

And yet this felt... different. The fear Ranma was showing was not fear of weakness that he had shown before. That was more like depression, really. But right now...

 _'He is... shaking. And... Tears?'_ There was only one, and it was small, but Genma could make out the shimmer of a tear in his child's eye. Genma felt his frown return as he studied the red-head, and he felt his hands grip his arms as they crossed again.

He let out a heavy sigh, deciding to skip his speech and to focus on the matter at hand. "Boy, why do you want me to give you permission?" It was a simple question, and yet it was one Ranma had clearly not expected.

Genma wasn't the most reasonable man, after all.

But the girl wasn't about to let the chance go, and quickly began to speak. "Something is coming. Something big. I can't explain how I know, I just _do_ , and I need all I can get, Pops. I need to... I need to train. I need to train hard." Genma blinked at the slightly panicked tone of voice that Ranma had, and felt his own panic begin to form.

Genma knew the boy's intuition to danger was second to none. If Ranma truly believed that something big was coming, and that he really needed all he could... _'Then there's nothing I can do.'_ The martial art's Master thought to himself, sighing slowly.

"Very well, boy." Ranma's eyes widened considerably at Genma's sudden acceptance, but also the intensity of his gaze. "When will this 'danger' be coming?" Ranma gulped, a slight smile on her face as she realized that Genma, her father, was taking her seriously for once.

"I don't know exactly, but at least a week." She admitted, getting a nod from Genma in return.

"Very well. Go. Go train as hard as you can. I will handle telling the others." Ranma smiled, nodding rapidly as she moved past the man to the closet.

"Thanks, Pops. I won't let you down. I promise." Genma simply nodded, leaving the room slowly, but not before giving the red-head a glance as he reached the door.

 _'You had better not, boy.'_

* * *

Ranma stretched forward, then backward, as she stood in a wide open field on a hill somewhere close to Nerima. She had left quickly and had already set up a camp site for her training, before Akane had even returned from school.

 _'Hopefully Pops will be able to handle everything.'_ Ranma didn't want to return to everyone hating her guts, but she was also glad that school only had a day or two left before it ended. Missing a week, again, would probably cause her to be held back.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts, slapping her face once. _'No outside source! I have to train, but first...'_ Reaching over, the girl grabbed a kettle full of water that was resting over a burning fire pit. She sighed as she poured the water over her head, feeling her body shift into the male equivalent.

 _'Better. I need power, not speed.'_ The now male Ranma thought to himself, clenching his fist as he set the kettle back down. His female form was faster, but had a shorter reach. She also had better 'control' over ki, while the male form was stronger and had more 'power' behind the ki.

Control was useful for the Umi-Sen Ken, but the Yama-Sen Ken was pure power and that was what he needed to master. He had already, secretly, mastered all of the techniques, but he needed to go further. His vision had showed him that simply using vacuum blades would not be enough to stop the beast.

He needed something much, _much_ stronger...

He turned his head side to side, studying the area before nodding as he set his eyes on the top of the mountain he stood on. _'That'll do...'_ He thought to himself, cracking his knuckles as he stomped towards the peak.

* * *

Ranma panted heavily, feeling his muscles burn as he stared at the large cuts he had made in the side of the mountain, which looked like someone had put it in a blender. Massive chunks were missing and there were even some cuts so deep that it made new caves.

 _'But it's not enough!'_ Ranma thought angrily, letting out a shout of " _Demon-God Strike!"_ as a thick blade of wind tore through the air as he swung his arm down. The top of the mountain let out a heavy whine as it was cut into again, and the world shook slightly as pieces of rock slid against each other.

Ranma ignored the cry as he fell to one knee, panting heavily as he shook his head. _'It's not enough. I need to train harder. Make a new technique. One that can over ride the regeneration.'_ A loud rumbling interrupted his thoughts and he sighed, feeling his muscles cry out in protest as he rose to his feet.

 _'I need to eat. First, I have to find food...'_ Such a thing would, normally, be on the top of his list, but right now his mind was focused completely on getting stronger. To stop the beast before it could destroy Nerima... and the Tendo Dojo.

To become strong enough... _'So that no one ever dies...'_

* * *

Rain dripped down onto Ranma, forcing the martial artist into female form once again as she bit down on the last bit of fish. She had found a large stream nearby with plenty of fish and wild life around it, resulting in a rather big meal to make up for all the energy she had spent.

But the hunt, training, and eating had resulted in the loss of all day light. The dark clouds over head didn't help either, and resulted in the martial artist letting out a tired sigh as she crawled into the dark green tent she had set up earlier. She pulled her shirt off, frowning as she held the wet thing at arms length before putting it down near the entrance of her tent.

She then laid on her back, frowning and staring up towards the ceiling of the tent with an annoyed expression. _'I need to get stronger, dammit.'_ She clenched her fists, feeling her anger course through her body.

But all of that anger left as she sighed, her body relaxing as a chilled aura formed around her. 'The Soul of Ice' technique emptied her emotions and cleared her mind, allowing her to think without wayward thoughts interrupting her.

 _'What can I do? The Yama-Sen Ken is powerful, but its attacks aren't meant for something of that size. I need something... bigger. Maybe if...'_ A sudden flash of inspiration hit her, as she recalled the massive 'vacuum' technique the Umi-Sen Ken used. The technique made to counter the Yama-Sen Ken and the one the Heir had used to defeat Ryu Kumon.

 _'I can combine the two._ ' The girl realized, her eyes a bit wide as she considered the possibilities. _'Before, the technique was used to suck up Kumon's vacuum blades and use them against him... But what if I put my own in there? What if I have more than one?'_ A grin spread across her face and she nodded a bit as her eyes closed.

 _'I'll work on it tomorrow, to see if I can. That stupid..._ thing _won't know what hit it!'_ The girl chuckled darkly to herself, her mind whirling with how she was going to make her idea work. But soon she was drifting off to sleep, as the rain hit quietly on the top of her tent.

* * *

"Where is he?" Ranma muttered to herself as she stood on top of a tall building over looking a majority of Nerima. The girl wasn't quite sure how long she had spent training in the mountain, but those who could see her aura could tell that it had grown much larger than it had before.

But they would also question why the martial artist was in his female form, though the answer to that came from a revelation he had while creating his mixture of Umi-Sen Ken and Yama-Sen Ken techniques.

While power was important for Yama-Sen Ken, it was _control_ that was important for the Umi-Sen Ken. Careful control to turn its opponent's power back at them, and to make no mistakes as they sneaked around. Combining the two took even more control than that, as the user had to make a balance of power and careful movements.

Which Ranma's female form was perfect for, as much as she didn't want to admit it.

But right now, Ranma understood that she needed every advantage she could get. This wasn't like Saffron, who had fought the martial artist in China. This fight was going to take place in Nerima, her _home._ Which meant it wasn't just Akane in danger this time, but the entire town.

The red head flinched as she saw a flash of flames surrounding her, covering the whole town while a massive shadow laughed in the distance... But the image faded as fast as it came, and she shook her head in annoyance.

 _'Not gonna happen.'_ Her thoughts were emphasized by her right fist hitting her left palm as her eyes narrowed. _'I won't let it do anything... I'll end it fast!'_ She nodded her head firmly, but froze as she saw a massive shadow beginning to form over the town.

The shadow even covered the building she stood upon, and she turned around with an angry expression quickly covering her face as she saw the massive form of the beast from her original dream so long ago.

Now that she was standing at a distance, and at a height, she could see the beast looked like a massive lizard, but with thick tentacles whipping around on its back. The tail was also much thinner than a regular lizard, but thicker than the tentacles, which was saying something. The head of the beast was also oddly shaped, having a sort of... square look to it, mostly on its nose.

But its body was covered in scales, excluding two horns that were sticking out of the side of its head. The tentacles also didn't have any scales on them, but instead had a strange slime-covered appearance, as if they were wet. The creature's feet were large and round, with three massive claws sticking out of the front. The hands were simply large scale claws, and the creature's mouth was twisted into a sadistic grin, showing off its large fangs.

Ranma gulped down the slight fear in her heart, her body chilling as she pulled herself into the 'Soul of Ice' technique once more. She quickly jumped through the air, jumping across several buildings as the massive creature began to walk in her direction...

Right towards the Tendo Dojo.

But while it was walking, Ranma felt dread enter her heart as she saw buildings not far from where the creature had appeared. She could already hear screams from the people below her as she jumped from building to building. Her fists clenched tightly as she hopped up the side of one building, feeling her gaze harden as she got closer to the roof.

The red-head reached the roof just in time to see the beast reach the first building in its wake, and she felt her heart stop for a moment as she recognized the large form of the Kuno house hold... which soon disappeared under the round foot of the massive creature. The sound of cracking and screaming met her ears as she took a step forward, watching the creature shake its leg as if it had just stepped in something sticky.

Something _trivial._

Ranma may have not liked any of the Kuno family, but she did respect life. No matter how much they annoyed her, they still deserved to live... and any death they had should have been natural, or the death of a warrior. They were samurai decent, after all.

But no, they were simply... stepped on. Like ants, and it appeared the creature either did not know or did not care that it possibly took a life just then, as it began to take another step towards another building.

Ranma did not give it a chance for that, as she flew forward, her hands out stretched with her palms facing the creature. "Moko Takabisha, Double!" She shouted out, sending two bright blue orbs flying swiftly into the creature's chest. The orbs were much larger and more powerful than they had been in the past, and her female form was even able to master them to an extent that allowed her to inflict even more damage than her male form.

This was shown as the beast actually stumbled back one step as the orbs exploded on its chest, but it did not fall as its feet planted themselves firmly on the ground. Its bright yellow-slitted eyes turned towards the source of the attack, and its grin grew even wider as it scratched its chest slightly, as if the damage was nothing more than an itch to it.

Ranma ignored the taunt as she stood on another building near the beast, glaring up at it angrily. "I've come to stop you, you overgrown lizard! I'm going to make sure you don't hurt anyone!" With that declaration, she pulled her arms up and crossed them like an X over her chest, putting her hands flat with the sides against her shoulders.

The creature just gave her an amused look, with three tentacles flying over its shoulders towards the awaiting martial artist. It didn't even react as blades of wind cut through the tentacles like paper, despite its opponent not changing position from where she had placed her arms.

More tentacles flew towards the girl and so did the creature's massive left claw, swiping at her as if she was a bug. The tentacles, again, were cut to pieces by invisible blades of wind, but the claw was simply jumped over as a wide grin spread across Ranma's face.

"I've got you!" She announced, slamming her feet onto the roof beside the monster's extended arm and 'slicing' her own arms towards the beast. " _ **Ultimate Deep Sea Demon's Godly Feast!**_ " She shouted, her aura spiking up until it was even larger than the creature she was fighting.

The beast just stared at her, unaware of what she was doing until it was too late. Its eyes widened slightly as it saw massive orbs beginning to form around its body in the air, each being barely visible as they were all made with heavily pressurized air. But the yellow eyes were able to see them perfectly, and could see that its body was surrounded in the orbs which were simply floating in the air.

Its eyes slowly wandered back towards the red-head, who grinned darkly as she held her hands up. " _ **Devour**_." She commanded, clapping her hands together.

The reaction was instant, as the orbs that had simply being floating around the creature suddenly shot towards it, causing it to howl in pain as they tore through its scales, making large openings in its flesh. It could not even put up resistance as its arms were torn apart and its legs were crippled and left as nothing more than bloody stumps as the orbs flew through them.

The howling continued and many eyes watched in fascination as the creature was torn down, its massive form becoming smaller and smaller. Soon, even the howling began to cease as the creature reached its limit, and Ranma smirked to herself, even as sweat went down her face as she stared down at the small remains of the creature that had towered above her.

There was barely anything left, just a single claw and the left over of its head, which still had two bright golden eyes staring up at her. But there was no intelligence or even the arrogance the beast had shown reflected in those eyes anymore, just a lingering pain.

Ranma let out a heavy sigh, shaking her head as she turned around. The technique had used up almost all of her reserves, but it seemed to have been worth it. _'Now, no one will..'_ Her thoughts were interrupted as a loud rumbling began behind her, and her head slowly began to turn.

Her eyes were already wide before she even saw the creature's remains again, which were shaking rapidly with spouts of blood and flesh beginning to shoot out from what remained of its neck. The Saotome child felt herself shake as she turned completely towards it, her legs giving out under her as she saw the creature's form slowly begin to … _reform_ itself.

It was something out of a horror film; the creature's head was being kept up by a large amount of blood and muscle sending it higher into the air until the form began to spread out, creating an outline of the creature's original appearance. Ranma could only watch in horror as flesh began to spread across the blood, and was soon covered by the thick scales she had worked so hard to tear through.

"Dammit..." She muttered slowly, her hands clenching into fists with her nails digging hard into her skin. "DAMMIT! WHY!?" She shouted, standing up and glaring at the creature as she felt tears begin to form. "WHY ARE YOU STILL ALIVE!?"

The creature, to its credit, could only blink at the girl as its body finished reforming. It simply stared at her blankly, as if uncertain how to answer, before its mouth slowly opened up. Ranma twitched, expecting the creature to speak to her, as she expected it could the entire time.

But instead, she found herself gasping in shock as the single claw, which had been laying on the ground beside the head, suddenly shot at her from the creature's mouth. Her body was still recovering from the use of her technique, and she was taken too much by surprise from the sudden action to dodge.

The claw tore through her body easily, piercing right through her chest with the bloody point sticking onto the roof she had stood on. She could feel her life quickly draining, and the world began to quickly darken as her arms and legs hung limply in the air, with her body being held up by the claw that impaled her.

With tears and blood dripping down her face, Ranma could only look up towards those golden eyes once more... before her world went dark.

* * *

Ranma sat up quickly as consciousness returned to her, her hands gripping at her stomach where the claw had impaled her and she could already feel tears forming in her eyes from the pain.

But there was no claw, and there was no beast looming over her. She was still in her tent, with the chirping of birds reaching her ears as sunlight began to flow past the walls of the tent. Quickly, the red-head dove through the door of the tent, grabbing her silk shirt as an after thought as she looked around quickly.

She was still on the mountain, exactly where she had fallen asleep when she had went to train to fight the creature. But none of that gave Ranma any form of relief as she pulled her shirt on, running quickly towards the top of the mountain where she had trained before.

The cuts and caves in the mountain were still there, and it didn't appear that any new ones had formed. But none of those mattered to Ranma as she moved past them, panting heavily as she stared out past the top of the forest that covered the mountain.

In the distance, she could see Nerima... Just as it always was. There was no flame, no beast, and no building that she could see was destroyed. It was Nerima... just as she had left it. That did give Ranma some relief, but it was quickly replaced by fury as she placed her hand on the stone beside her.

 _'It can't be killed. It just regenerates. I fucking tore it to shreds, and it regenerated! From just a head!'_ Her fist slammed into the stone and she growled angrily, her fists clenching tighter and tearing into her skin slightly. "God... Fucking... DAMMIT!" She yelled out, not caring who heard as she let her _ki_ explode outward, tearing through the stone she was standing on.

It did not take long for the mountain to voice its complaints.

* * *

The red-headed martial artist grunted as she walked through the door of the Tendo household, her eyes half open and her entire demeanor screaming _defeat_ as she opened the front door. "Tadaima..." She called out, though it was barely more than a whisper as she kicked her shoes off and began to run up the stairs towards her room.

Her trip was interrupted as Nabiki opened her door, a pair of headphones on her head as she stared down towards her CD-player, but her head shot up at the sound of footsteps. The girl arched her eyebrow slightly at Ranma's posture, watching the red-head storm past her.

"What's up, Saotome? You lose a fight?" Nabiki asked curiously, having thought that very few people could match up to Ranma at this point. Even Ryoga had seemed to stop being a challenge for the pig-tailed boy.

Her words actually caused the red-head to stop, just a few inches away, and Nabiki frowned as the two blue eyes turned towards her. Nabiki wasn't the best at reading Ranma's face, despite her ability to read many other people very easily, but she could make out the emotions that flew through those eyes as clear as day.

Annoyance, defeat, reluctance, and then...

Determination.

"No." The red-head answered, her gaze snapping towards the door of her room in the distance. "Not yet... I won't lose. I can't lose. I need to..." She blinked once, and shook her head, clearing some thoughts Nabiki wasn't privy to before making her way towards her room.

The Mercenary frowned, watching her go and tilting her head slightly to the side. Something was definitely bothering the boy-turned-girl, and it didn't seem to be related to Akane this time.

 _'Definitely seemed like some kind of fight, but...'_ She frowned, considering her options carefully. In the past, she would have simply tried to find out what the issue was so she could make a profit out of it. Have people buy some 'information' on where Ranma was, or who he was with.

Even the fights were something to behold and often got her more money than the photos. After all, who didn't want to watch a high powered martial arts fight in real life? It was like a dream come true for many.

 _'Something tells me I shouldn't sell this information so easily, though.'_ Nabiki noted to herself, starting to turn towards Ranma's door. _'That guy almost seemed... scared. No... Defeated. Something beat him down, or... something is_ going _to beat him down?'_ The red-head did say she hadn't lost _yet_ , which meant the fight hasn't happened yet... or is still going on now.

She blinked twice as she recalled Genma saying that Ranma had been going off to train and would be going for awhile. The man had said he didn't know why Ranma suddenly wanted to train, or where, but he said it was going to at least be a week...

 _'But it has only been a day.'_ The Mercenary noted, her curiosity sky rocketing at the thought. There was no way Ranma would return after just a day and come home like that. Not only that, but it seemed the martial artist _still_ needed to get stronger. Which meant something had happened, something that kept him from training.

Meanwhile, Ranma was sitting cross legged on her futon, her arms crossing under her chest. Her eyes were closed as she focused on what exactly to do. _'The first thing... is to figure out this power.'_ She thought to herself, frowning as she went over her apparent power to 'see' the future.

 _'If I had known about the thing regenerating, I would have handled it better. I also wouldn't have been taken by surprise by that stupid claw.'_ She shook her head slightly, her frown deepening. _'But how do I use the power? It seems to activate when I'm asleep... but it takes too long, and I can't just keep sleeping.'_

She groaned softly, scratching at her head just as the door started to open. She blinked, looking up towards the smirking face of Nabiki as the girl stepped into the room, her headphones and CD-player discarded somewhere.

 _'Great, now I have this to deal with.'_ Ranma thought irritably, but kept the annoyance off her face.

"What's up, Nabs?" Nabiki, on the other hand, didn't bother to keep the annoyance off her face as she was addressed.

"I told you to stop calling me that." Ranma just smirked a bit, shrugging slightly. Nabiki sighed, closing the door behind herself and leaning against it right after. "Whatever. What's with the moody attitude? And... aren't you supposed to be out training, or something?"

Ranma winced slightly, something that wasn't lost on the brown haired girl. The red-head turned her gaze to the side, frowning. "I'm still training. I just..."

"By moping on your bed?" Ranma flinched slightly and Nabiki resisted the urge to smirk. Even if the boy/girl was tougher than anyone she had ever met, it was still easy to press his buttons. "Moping isn't a fighting technique I've heard of, though Daddy has a pretty good hold on his crying technique."

Ranma smirked a bit from the joke, but her frown returned rather quickly as she sighed. "I just.. have a lot to deal with, Nabiki. I need to get stronger... But I need to figure out what to do..." Nabiki sighed a bit, shrugging her shoulders as she pushed herself off the door.

"Fine, fine. Obviously you're not going to tell me much... But if you really need to win a fight, why not swallow some pride and ask one of the boys for help?" Nabiki chuckled a bit, thinking of the two long-time rivals Ranma had going for his head.

Ryoga and Mousse were even more simple minded than Ranma was, and neither of them were quite as strong as the Saotome child. But that didn't mean they weren't monsters in their own right compared to regular people. Ryoga especially. That boy could probably get hit by a mountain and still be fine.

The three boys didn't really get along, however, and Nabiki figured it was one of them that had caused this issue anyways. It was usually Ryoga that gave Ranma the most trouble, unless a completely new fighter appeared.

The middle-Tendo shook her head, deciding it was time she left to find information from another source. She turned to exit the room when she felt a hand on her shoulder, and she arched her eyebrow, looking back and a bit down towards the red-head standing behind her.

It was always strange that the female form of Ranma was shorter than her, when the male version was about the same height.

"Yes? Decided to tell me what's going on after all?" Nabiki smirked a bit as the red-head flinched, pulling her hand off the girl's shoulder.

"I... You..." She sighed, fiddling nervously with her shirt, which made Nabiki briefly toy with the idea that Ranma thought he was actually a girl... again.

"Yes..?" She turned towards the martial artist, crossing her arms and leaning back against the door again. Her movement seemed to pull the red-head out of her thoughts as she looked up towards the taller girl.

"I... need your help." Nabiki blinked... and then blinked again. That was _not_ what she had been expecting, and Ranma took advantage of her silence to explain before the girl started to charge her cash. "I need your brains... I'm not smart. I don't know what to do. A... And..." Nabiki arched her eyebrows again, watching Ranma's blue eyes glance downward as her body shook slightly.

"I... I don't think I can do it alone." The martial artist gulped down her nerves as she stared at the ground, feeling like her heart had just dropped to her feet. It had taken a lot of will power to actually admit that she couldn't do it alone, couldn't save everyone on her own.

But it had been the first thing that came to mind after Nabiki said to ask for help, and something in her chest told her it was the only way. She couldn't beat that monster alone... It had been taken down to nothing but a head and returned. It would take more than what she could give alone to defeat that creature with no loss.

Nabiki knew that Ranma's pride had been shaken by asking for help, something she couldn't recall him doing before except when it came to a cure for his curse. _'Which means this is serious.'_ The girl noted, smirking a little as she ran the numbers through her head. _'Which means he's desperate.'_

Which meant more cash in the end for her, though she knew the boy had no real money to his name. "Alright... But you'll owe me a couple favors for this, Saotome." Ranma winced slightly, but nodded her head as Nabiki moved past her, leaning against the wall next to the window now. "Explain what you need first."

Ranma nodded slightly, standing in front of the girl and crossing her arms as she thought of how to explain it. "Well, it's like..." She squirmed a bit back and forth, her face scrunching up as she thought of what to say.

"Today, Saotome."

"Right, well, uh..." The red-head sighed, deciding to be as blunt as possible. "I think... I think I can see the future." Now, Nabiki was known for her poker face, often not letting the craziness of the Nerima ward get to her. The only one who shared that aspect with her was Kasumi, who always had a smile. Especially in school, she was known as being the 'Ice Queen' and the 'Mercenary' by her peers.

But even the 'Ice Queen Nabiki' could not keep her jaw from dropping slightly, or her mouth to go dry as she heard Ranma's words. Hesitantly, the girl spoke, "C... Come again?"

"I think I can see the future." Ranma repeated, frowning as she turned her gaze out the window. "I... I don't know how, or why, but yesterday... I saw it all _before_ it happened. I saw Kasumi serving red beans and rice, saying she got a date with the doc... and then I saw that nut-job at the school go on about a golden coconut or something." Nabiki nodded mutely, having heard about the principal crying over his 'golden coconut' event being ruined by Ranma.

"But you were, ah, the one who really warned me I think..." Ranma continued, deciding to go over everything. "You were lookin' atta picture of me... But it was the second time you were looking at it... From my perspective." Nabiki arched her eyebrows slightly, curious as to where the martial artist was going with that... and also where he even learned a word like perspective.

"You were looking in my room? And what does that have to do with seeing the future, Saotome?" Nabiki questioned, probing a bit for more information as she studied the red-head. Nabiki wasn't really irritated that she had been spied on, but the lack of anger about the picture was interesting her. She had already suspected Ranma _let_ her take pictures. This just added more proof.

"Ah, well..." The girl squirmed a bit, sighing slightly. "Well, yah..." She paused, a slight frown on her face. "You... never sell the same picture twice, or at least I don't think you would. People would want variety, and... you're good, so I know you know that." Ranma's explanation was met with a curious stare as Nabiki examined the red-head.

 _'Something is... off._ ' She thought to herself, her eyes going up and down the body of the martial artist in front of her. It was definitely still Ranma, no matter how hard she looked, and yet the posture was slightly different. It still had that arrogant tilt to it, a stature that said 'Yeah, I'm good, what about it?' But there was something... different with the way she held herself.

A certain poise that didn't exist before.

 _'Not only that...'_ Nabiki added, going over Ranma's words once more in her head. _'But he's speaking a bit... differently. Less slang... He even stopped himself from saying "yah" instead of "you."'_ The Ice Queen shook her head slightly, a small frown on her face. _'But more importantly...'_

The red-head claimed to be able to see the future. There were so many things that could come from that. Knowing the out come of fights... the lottery, betting rings... All sorts of things. The money hungry girl could _feel_ the money flowing through her finger tips with Ranma's power...

 _'If he's telling the truth.'_ Her brain pointed out as she went over what was said again. There was actually no indication that Ranma was telling the truth, and she had no reason to blindly trust the boy either.

"Prove it." She suddenly demanded, snapping her fingers slightly at Ranma's bewildered gaze. "Prove you can see the future. Tell me something you can't influence that is going to happen soon." Ranma frowned, scrunching her nose up slightly.

"I... don't know how. I've only been able to see it when I go to sleep, and I can't seem to control what I see." Nabiki frowned a bit at the explanation, feeling the 'money' she had imagined flying away.

But she wasn't one to give up easily, especially when it came to possible money.

 _'Only happens when he's sleeping... Can't control what he sees... Hmm...'_ She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, running through her options. Sleeping pills? _'No, he'd resist them.'_ Sleeping spell? _'Don't know any.'_ There weren't any easy ways to make Ranma sleep, other than just knocking him out, but that probably wouldn't work. _'Well, what about...'_

"Have you tried meditation?" The girl offered, smirking a bit as Ranma's eyes widened. "I guess not. Try that, and focus on trying to see something that will happen soon."

Ranma nodded slowly, dropping down and sitting cross legged on the ground. Nabiki watched with slight fascination as Ranma cupped her hands into a bowl on her lap, her letting out a slow breath. The stress on her face also started to evaporate before Nabiki's eyes, and she could see the red-head's shoulders relax.

But despite her relaxed appearance, the girl was anything but. She could _feel_ her mind being carried off, as if it was leaving her body. It was a different feeling than dreaming, which simply felt like a slight change in perspective. This felt like her body was being emptied and then put somewhere else...

The feeling left just as fast as it stopped, and the red-head found herself staring at Nabiki as she sat on the girl's bed. Nabiki didn't even seem to notice her as her phone rang...

After a few moments of waiting, Ranma's eyes snapped open and she looked up at Nabiki with a surprised expression. "Uh.. it... It worked. You're going to get a call soon, from..." She paused, her nose scrunching up slightly. "Someone named... Juuko? You said it was about a special deal on a deluxe camera you've been talking to her about. Some special dealer in..."

"Stop." Nabiki interrupted, holding her hand up as she stared down at Ranma. The girl looked up at her curiously, watching the Tendo walk towards the door. "I'm going to get my phone, and then we'll see what happens. Until then, stay here." Ranma slowly nodded as Nabiki exited the room.

While the Mercenary did appear calm on the outside as she walked towards her room, she felt her heart beating quickly in her chest. _'Juuko_ did _say she was going to check something for me today... There's no way Ranma knew about that either, so...'_ If she really _did_ get a phone call about that, then that meant the red-head was telling the truth.

After reaching her room, the girl grabbed the flip-phone on her desk, staring at it as she closed her door slowly. _'Come on, ring already...'_ She thought impatiently, a frown on her face. As if listening to her, the phone suddenly started to ring and she quickly snapped the phone open. "Hello?"

" _Whoa, that was fast."_ The voice on the other side of the phone noted. Nabiki felt her mouth go a bit dry as she recognized Juuko's voice, a soft but strong voice that she had grown to recognize easily. Juuko was, after all, her 'right hand' and took care of most of the things that Nabiki asked, such as organizing their other workers to 'spread' rumors.

But that didn't mean she trusted the girl, nor were they really 'friends.' They were business partners, nothing more.

"I was just picking up the phone to move it when you called." Nabiki lied, though it was more of a half truth. "What do you want, Juuko? Has some new challenge popped up?" She could hear Juuko chuckle slightly, knowing that a 'new challenge' meant someone kidnapping Akane or attacking Ranma.

" _You'd be the first to know if there was."_ Juuko quipped, amusement in her voice. _"But nah, I found that camera you wanted. There's a special deal in Juuban, and we can even..."_ Her voice barely registered to Nabiki as the girl stared blankly at wall, her eyes slowly glazing over.

Ranma had been telling the truth. _'He can see the future..! But what's the extent, and how can I use this?'_ She could feel her tongue rolling over her lips slowly, though a small part of her mind reasoned that she couldn't abuse that power. Not only was it Ranma who had it, not herself, but abusing it too much would cause attention... Not to mention Ranma could be extremely stubborn if you pressed the wrong button.

" _...biki... Nabiki? Are you there?"_ Juuko's voice interrupted her thoughts again and she nodded slightly, though quickly spoke as she realized the girl couldn't see that.

"Yeah, sorry. I heard something crash, just checked to make sure it wasn't another wall." Nabiki lied, sitting down on the edge of her bed. "So you said the camera was in Juuban, right? I didn't catch the rest." She could hear Juuko sigh slightly on the other end of the phone.

" _It's not a problem. But I said we can even put a small bit of cash down to have them hold it for awhile. Should I do that? I'll require a 10% fee from you, though."_ The last part was said in a playful tone, and Nabiki chuckled softly.

"I'll give you 5% of the first few photos it gets. Deal?"

" _Deal! I'll lay it away right now and text you the address."_

"Alright. I'll talk to you later, Juuko. I need to do a few things."

" _Righto. Bye, Nabiki!"_ A click was heard and Nabiki sighed, flicking her phone closed as she stood up. She didn't bother putting her phone up, she simply pocketed it into her tight brown pants she wore and began to briskly walk towards Ranma's room.

As instructed, the red-head was still there, but she was meditating again and one of her eyes opened as Nabiki opened the door. "So you're back. Did you..?" Nabiki nodded her head, closing the door behind herself and leaning against it.

"Yep. I got a call from Juuko, and she told me about the camera... So... I'll believe you for now, and give you the benefit of the doubt that you didn't bribe Juuko for that." The idea that the two had worked together to pull something over her eyes had gone through her head briefly, but she dismissed it.

Ranma wasn't that crafty, and Juuko wasn't the type to do that. Nabiki was sure that the two had never even spoken to each other.

Ranma visibly relaxed as she heard Nabiki believed her. "T... Then you'll help?" The amount of hope in her voice was a bit... eerie to Nabiki, who was used to the 'jock' just being his regular arrogant self. But she ignored those feelings as she addressed the boy-turned-girl.

"Well, I only said I believe you. I don't know what exactly you want help with." She frowned slightly as Ranma's eyes clouded slightly, as if she was looking past Nabiki. Her posture also changed; her normal confident way of holding herself falling into a more... weakened appearance... One that made it look like she had been defeated.

"I told you, I can see the future. I saw... I saw something horrible. Something I tried to fight and... I lost." The Ice Queen felt her eyebrows arch a bit at the sad tone in Ranma's voice, but more so from the expression she wore. It was a somber expression, one that let Nabiki know the martial artist was being completely serious...

"Start from the beginning." Nabiki commanded, sitting down cross legged in front of the door. "What did you see and when?" Ranma hesitated for a moment before nodding her head, slowly going over the first dream she had in class, about the beast that had destroyed the Tendo Dojo.

Nabiki was silent during the tale, her face blank as the red-head went over how she fought the creature with the entire Dojo being in flames around her. The second tale had the girl's body stiffen slightly, as she heard Ranma explain that this time she had been waiting for the beast with a technique she went to learn on the mountain... A technique that had been far more destructive than anything Nabiki had ever heard of, and yet it amounted to nothing in the end.

 _'No, not nothing. Thanks to that, we've got information... and I think I found something wrong with Ranma's 'power.''_ Nabiki thought to herself, rubbing her chin slowly, though she missed Ranma's hand going over her own stomach. The red-head didn't tell her about how the visions ended, with Ranma's 'death' in both cases... She simply said they had ended before that, claiming they simply went dark after a certain point.

Nabiki, not privy to the girl's thoughts, was focused on her own troubles as she rubbed her chin. Her gaze went up towards the red-head and the Ice Queen started to push herself up. "Ranma, stay here. I'm going to get something." Ranma nodded her consent, standing up as well as Nabiki left the room.

She returned rather quickly, holding a few papers in her hands. She held the stack up, turning it so the top paper faced the red-head who was staring blankly at it. "Is this the thing you were fighting?" Ranma frowned, leaning forward slightly to get a better look, as the picture was a bit small.

It was a large lizard with claws much like the ones the 'beast' had and it was standing on two legs, just like the beast. But there was also several differences in the picture, along with a caption underneath that said "Godzilla" in bold letters.

"No, it was more like..." Ranma waved her hand a bit, looking around for a moment before walking to her closet. There, she pulled out a small box, causing Nabiki to arch her eyebrows again as Ranma retrieved a blank sheet of white paper and a pen, though she couldn't see what else was in it as Ranma placed the box back into the closet.

"What's with the box?" Nabiki bluntly asked, causing Ranma to flinch slightly.

"Ah, I had to have a lot of paper to practice Calligraphy when that guy showed up. It was a pretty interesting art, so..." Ranma shrugged slightly, sitting down and pushing the paper against the ground. "Anyways, it was like this..."

Nabiki arched her eyebrow a bit as Ranma's pen began to drag across the paper quickly, and she felt her eyes widen slightly as the girl's hands began to speed up into a blur of motion. _'Surely he doesn't think the picture will come out looking good like that!? He's just...'_

She paused as the red-head pulled her hand back, nodding at her work and holding the paper up for Nabiki to see. "See? It was more like this, with flat round feet and horns on its head, and..." Ranma frowned, noticing the wide eyed stare Nabiki was giving the paper. "What? Do you recognize it?"

Jumping slightly from the sudden accusation, Nabiki hastily shook her head as she stared at the picture of the 'beast.' "No, it's just... I didn't think you were good at art, Saotome." The Ice Queen admitted, staring at the picture with a more critical eye. "It's very well done."

While the entire thing was just a solid black color, due to the pen, there was still careful consideration put into how everything was shaded. She could tell the creature was covered in scales, and there were thick tentacles wiggling around above its head, though not actually moving or anything, and she could see there was even a sadistic grin on the creature's face.

Ranma blinked a bit at the unexpected compliment, scratching her cheek slightly with her free hand. "Ah, well... I'm not that good. But, uh... This is what it really looked like, so it wasn't that... Godzilla thing." Nabiki nodded a bit, glancing to her own picture of Godzilla.

"Yeah, they're definitely different, although whatever that thing is..." She looked up, frowning as she stared at Ranma's picture. "It's definitely at least a _little_ influenced by Godzilla." She shook her head slightly, placing her papers down as she sighed. "But really, Ranma, how am I supposed to deal with something like that? I'm not a fighter like the rest of you."

A half truth. Nabiki still practiced martial arts in her free time, but only as a form of exercise. But even then, she was no where near the strength or speed of half the people in Nerima. _'Well, none of the main martial artists, at least.'_ She mentally corrected herself, thinking briefly of Kodachi Kuno. _'I'm still a bit faster than her, though not nearly as flexible...'_

Ranma's squirming brought her attention back to the red-head as she placed the picture of the beast to the side. "Well, I don't want you to fight it. I don't want you to get hurt." Nabiki blinked once, but said nothing as Ranma rubbed the back of her head. "But I told you, I'm not good at making up plans and stuff... You can probably think of something I'd never think of."

Nabiki sighed, slowly nodding her head. "Alright, let's see.." She rubbed her chin thoughtfully, mentally reviewing everything Ranma told her before she spoke. "What about Ryoga and Mousse? Did you consider asking them for help?" The sour look that appeared on Ranma's face told her the answer to that question, and she let out a sigh. "Ranma..."

"I know!" Ranma quickly interrupted, twitching and looking to the side with annoyance practically _oozing_ off her body. "I know. But I haven't talked to them since the whole wedding thing and …" She shook her head side to side, sighing. "I guess it's a stupid reason."

Nabiki arched her eyebrow at the muttering, but shrugged her shoulders soon after. "Kind of. They did make a huge mess, but I doubt either of them will be okay with something killing a bunch of people." Ranma sighed a bit, nodding slowly at Nabiki's words.

"I guess we do need all the help we can get, but.." The red-head's frown increased as she scrunched her nose up slightly. "I don't know if they'll be enough... That thing did manage to beat me pretty easy..." The slight bit of arrogance in her tone didn't go unnoticed by the Tendo, causing her to snort slightly.

"Indeed, Saotome. Clearly no one that you can't beat can be beat by someone else. Should I bring in Neko-Kun?" The teasing brought a large red tint to the martial artist's face, which made Nabiki's smirk grow as the larger girl glared at her.

"That doesn't count!" Ranma snapped back, though her anger and embarrassment evaporated a moment later as her shoulders drooped. Nabiki's smirk dropped as well, once again put off by the red-head's depression. "But... you're right, I guess... But I don't think they'll try to help without something making them. Plus... It might be weeks before we see Ryoga again." The annoyed tone she took made Nabiki arch her eyebrow, but she found herself agreeing with Ranma overall.

 _'It's true Ryoga will take forever to find... and Ranma made it clear he doesn't know when the monster shows up. It's unlikely we'll even be able to keep the guy here too.'_ The Mercenary closed her eyes, leaning back against the door with her head making a slight _knock_ sound. _'Mousse is the only choice then, since there's no way we can get the old pervert to help. Cologne might, but she doesn't really specialize in dealing with giant monsters.'_ Scenarios were jumping back and forth in her head and slowly she began to realize that there was a very low chance of anyone coming to help and being useful.

While they could all go train with Ranma, who reached a height in his vision that Nabiki had never even considered, it was unlikely it would have gone differently. The girl wasn't a Martial Arts Master like the usual cast of fighters, but she had spent a long time watching Ranma's growth. Making bets, placing events down to get money, or just watching Ranma train without him noticing to get an idea on if he'd actually win or not in the next fight. So she understood if anyone else could really stand a chance against something Ranma couldn't.

 _'And as it stands... No, probably not.'_ Her eyes cracked open, staring at the red-head across from her through her eyelashes. The smaller girl was fiddling with her shirt again, but there were emotions dancing across her face and through her eyes. Annoyance, anger, _fear_ , and finally acceptance, causing Nabiki to arch her eyebrows.

But Ranma just sighed, shaking her head slightly as she spoke. "I think I'll just have to ask them to train with me, but I don't know if it will be enough. Even if we train together, we won't reach the same stage as before, and that technique I used would just get in their way." Ranma grumbled out, voicing some of Nabiki's own thoughts.

The Mercenary hummed thoughtfully, rubbing under her chin and considered her options. After a moment, she pointed towards Ranma with a frown. "Try seeing the future again. Focus on the idea of asking those two for help." Ranma's eyes widened a bit, but she nodded her consent and placed her hands into a bowl again. Once more, Nabiki watched as the girl's body relaxed and Ranma felt her mind being taken away...

… only to smack against a pitch black wall.

The red-head could only stare blankly into a void of darkness within her minds eye, but after a few moments the darkness cleared and she found herself flying forward once more.

A second passed and she felt cold water on her back...

* * *

A loud splash echoed through the air as Ranma landed in the water, his curse shifting him to a female form, but keeping the annoyed expression she now wore. "The hell was that for?" She snapped out, standing up in the shallow water of the small river that was running through the town. Two figures stood above her, their bodies shadows from the sun behind their back, and neither answered her from their position on the road that ran beside the low river.

Ranma growled in annoyance, jumping back and standing on the opposite side of the river, using a burst of ki to evaporate the water on her. Something she tended not to do since it made the clothing rough to wear casually until they were properly washed. But the threat of a fight made that worthwhile, since having water soaking her clothing would've just made it harder to move.

The burst of ki put the other two on edge, though, and they fell into fight stances as they glared at Ranma. On the left was Ranma's long time rival Ryoga Hibiki, glaring with his bandana flapping in the wind behind him, his umbrella and backpack resting on the ground by his feet. Then, beside him on Ranma's right, was Mousse, the male Chinese Amazon who had his large glasses resting on his face for once, hiding his glare but not the annoyed expression he wore as he twirled a long curved sword in his left hand.

Their sudden aggression made the girl drop to her own fighting stance, her blue eyes glaring harshly at the two. The three stared at each other for a long moment before Ranma let out a low sigh, dropping her stance and beginning to stand up straight. This action made the other two hesitate, not sure what to make of their rival's sudden attitude.

"Look, I'm not here to fight." The God Killer stated, putting one hand on her hip while staring at the two. "I'm here to tell you that something big is coming. Something we all have to be ready for." The other two glanced at each other, but quickly turned to glare at Ranma once more, not dropping their fighting stances.

"And why the hell should we believe you, Saotome? You already string Shampoo around like she's a dog on a leash. I'm not letting you trick me so you can get your hands on her!" Mousse's voice grew more and more angry and accusing the more he spoke. The annoyed expression Ranma got from his words seemed to bother him even more as the grip on his sword tightened, but the boy turned girl didn't even get the chance to retort when Ryoga spoke up.

"Yeah! Akane too! You're just trying to get rid of us so you can finally have your way with them! I'm not letting you defile Akane's purity." The pig-boy yelled out, his legs bending as he prepared to jump across the gap. "Prepare to die, Sao-"

A golden orb exploded on the boy's chest just as he began his usual intro, sending him skidding back with wide eyes as he gripped at the tear in his shirt. The boy had been taken by surprise by the sudden attack, having not even seen the orb coming towards him, but his usual sturdiness kept him from falling. Regardless, the lost boy could tell that there was a lot more power in that attack than usual.

Mousse could tell as well and was instantly on guard, holding up two blades now with his body leaning forward as he prepared to attack. Ryoga slowly recovered from the attack, but couldn't help but rub his hand across the red mark on his exposed chest, glaring up at Ranma who returned the glare with a blank expression. The hand not on her hip was stretched out towards them due to her attack, her palm facing them and smoking slightly from the ki she launched.

"I suppose I should have guessed you two wouldn't listen to reason." The red-head muttered, her voice barely carrying over to the two, who once again were taken back by the way Ranma responded. With a sigh, she shook her head, lowering her hand to her side. "Look, this isn't a trick, so don't start swinging. I'm serious here." She waved her hand towards the larger part of town, towards the Tendo Dojo and the cafe Mousse worked at. "If we don't stop this thing... This whole town will burn to the ground." The serious tone in Ranma's voice actually seemed to make the two even more upset as their bodies lowered once more to jump the gap separating them from Ranma.

Mousse was the first to respond, one of his swords disappearing and being replaced with a short spear. "Showing your true colors at last! I wondered how long you would take to try and kill ev-" The sudden and sharp glare Ranma sent his way made the boy's blood run cold, feeling the amount of ki towering over him. The feeling made the warrior realize that he may have overstepped his boundaries and he stepped back slightly, preparing to defend himself should the pig-tailed Martial Artist jump at him.

Ryoga was also taken back by the sudden burst of power, but stood his ground. He was more used to dealing with Ranma's overwhelming ki, but found himself feeling wary regardless. He was often on the receiving end of it due to how much it took for Ranma to put him down without a trick to lower his guard. Still, he couldn't stop himself from openly gaping as Ranma spoke, her voice low and serious while the powerful ki whipped around her like a flame.

"I am not a monster... I'm a Martial Artist, you duck." Her hands were curled into fists now, glaring harshly at the Amazon. "I would never kill anyone here. Even you two assholes aren't someone I'd kill unless you started trying to kill someone besides me." Her angry expression fell into a frown, her eyes growing slightly distant. "Just like Saffron." The mention of the Phoenix God made both boys flinch, glancing at each other as they recalled the amount of power being tossed around in that final fight on the mountain in China.

Ranma let out a heavy sigh, bringing their attention back to her as her ki began to fall down into normal levels. She regarded them both with a reluctant acceptance, her eyes half open and a small frown on her face. "I won't force you to help. You assholes need to train hard anyways, and I can't see it being enough to be honest. So forget it. Just promise that if you see a shadow towering over the town that you get as many people out as you can. I'll handle the rest." With that, she began to turn and walk away.

Ryoga and Mousse both looked at each other for a short moment before Mousse stepped up, causing Ranma to pause as he yelled at her. "Wait, Saotome. We'll listen."

"But if this ends up being a trick..." Ryoga added, cracking his knuckles for added effect. "Then we'll have issues."

Ranma just shrugged in response, turning back towards them with her hands sliding into her pockets. "That's fine, since it isn't one. But let's talk..." The world began to fade as the girl walked towards the two, but she paid it no mind even when the ground under her feet disappeared.

Soon she was falling, twisting through a wall of darkness and...

* * *

Ranma gasped softly, her eyes snapping open as she felt like her body had just falling into a bowl. Nabiki was sitting across from her again, letting the pig-tailed red-head know she was "back" in the past. The Ice Queen just tilted her head at Ranma's sudden gasp, her body leaning back against the door still.

"So? Did it work?" Ranma nodded slightly at the question, her arms resting on her legs while she sighed.

"Sort of. There was a weird... darkness at first... I couldn't see anything, but I found it." Nabiki frowned a bit, but didn't say anything. She just waited for Ranma to tell her what she saw, though the Martial Artist was chewing on her lip a bit, not sure where to start. She sighed after a moment, looking up at the middle Tendo. "I can get them to help, though it's like pulling teeth. I don't know if it'll be enough, though."

"You can't check?" Nabiki questioned, causing Ranma to frown and shrug.

"I don't know, I guess I can try." She placed her hands into a bowl again, relaxing her body as she fell into the endless void once more...

* * *

 _ **Chapter... END!**_

 _ **A bit more focus on the powers of both Ranma and the Beast in general this time, with a more detailed version of the description. Small trivia: Excluding minor changes, the overall chapter had been written like 4 years ago. Maybe more. Some people might notice some areas that were written poorly compared to my usual style, or at least I definitely did, but it'd take forever to actually edit them into the same style I use now. But anyways...**_

 _ **Look forward to the next one soon and tell me what you think! Honestly, out of all the stuff I've got on the backburner, this one seems the most likely to be completed at some point, so I'm curious if anyone actually wants me to, y'know? And for any curious, there are rules for Ranma's power. While I started out just writing it as I went, there actually is a rhyme and reason for how and what Ranma sees that will be explained later... if the story is written out, at least.**_

 _ **But anyways, hope you enjoyed.**_


	8. Oracle of Nemesis (Ch3)

_**The Final Chapter!... of the preview, at least. As it stands, it already has some people saying it's interesting and that gets me re-interested in writing it, to be honest. If it keeps getting some praises, I might toss it up as a real story and update it every now and then, putting up four chapters right away since this preview was already "finished" with 3. Sorry to "Guest" having to deal with it stopping at 3 chapters, but at the very least I'd say this has about 6 or 7 chapters, maybe a bit more, in it with what I have at the very moment. If I had to guess how many chapters it'd take to finish entirely... Maybe 40? Somewhere around that, depending on what route I go.**_

 _ **If I get super interested into writing it again, maybe it'll have more by the time it "comes out", so to speak. That being said... This is when the idea starts to get a bit... weirder. Maybe even "fluffier." Of course, there's a**_ **lot** ** _of work to be done and there's some subtle hints I've tossed in about what does, doesn't, will, and_ won't _come to pass in this story..._**

 _ **But hey, I don't like putting everything on the table. I want people to guess what's going on. Guess the powers! Enjoy the journey along side these characters, y'know? Of course, I always answer questions tossed at me, but those are private and not A/Ns, so it works. But anyways...**_

 _ **This is the last preview of Oracle of Nemesis. If people really like it, I'll toss it up as its own story and update it every now and then. It's going to delve into some weird stuff later, admittedly, but nothing major. So! Let's continue!**_

 _ **This one goes right off the ending of the last chapter, so re-read that if you forgot what happened!**_

* * *

But this time there wasn't a wall of darkness... There was simply nothing. No matter how much her mind flew forward, or how much she twisted and looked around... There was nothing. Only a faint sparkle laid in the distance of her mind's eye, but focusing on it brought her back to the Tendo household, her head resting on Nabiki's shoulder as the two sat in the living room.

They were both staring at a few pictures and neither seemed to mind being so close together. Nabiki flipped a page in the book, prompting a chuckle out of the two as they stared at a picture of a mud covered Akane when she was a young child, her cheeks puffed up while a younger Nabiki was smirking in the background.

"Cute. A shame she never really dropped that expression." Ranma playfully joked, to which Nabiki responded with a soft tap on the smaller girl's head with her knuckles. This made Ranma just grin a bit, her tongue sticking out.

"Careful, or she'll teleport here and attack you." Nabiki warned, smiling despite herself and then turning her gaze back towards the book. "But anyways..." There was a sudden sound that made Nabiki pause as she went to go flip another page. The two girls looked up as a gentle call of "I'm home!" echoed through the house. Nabiki chuckled a bit, calling back "Welcome home, sis." just as the eldest Tendo sister walked into the room, smiling and sliding a gold colored purse off her shoulder. The bright smile on the girl's face brought a smile to both Nabiki and Ranma's face.

"Guess your date went well, huh? That's three in a row." Kasumi blushed at Ranma's words, her smile growing a bit wider.

"W... Well, it was quite nice." The woman muttered, but her normally passive expression fell into an amused one as she stared down at the two. "I can see yours is going well too." Now it was their turn to blush, though Ranma's was much more prominent while Nabiki played it off with a cool smirk.

"Neither of us are wearing a fancy dress, so it's not _that_ nice." She teased back, looking up and down her older sister's golden dress that sparkled even from the small light above them. The whole thing outlined her body nicely, showing off her womanly curves, and stopped just at her knees. Nabiki smirked playfully, letting out a low whistle. "I bet Tofu could barely speak with that in front of him."

Kasumi blushed heavily, fiddling with her dress a bit while Ranma chuckled slightly, her head nuzzling a bit closer to Nabiki's shoulder despite her embarrassment from Kasumi's "date" comment. "I bet the guy took her dancing. I can't imagine he could sit still with her walking beside him like that." The comment made Kasumi's face burn even brighter, causing the red-head to smirk. "Nailed it."

"Might not be the only thing that got nailed." Nabiki joked, causing both other girl's to blush from the very idea, though Kasumi stomped her foot in an uncharacteristic manner with her whole face a bright red.

"N.. Nabiki! W... We're not ready for that!" She cried out, her eyes wide. "I... It's only the … the third date! And Ono-Kun wouldn't..."

"Ono-Kun, huh? Going by first names now?" Nabiki interrupted with a teasing smile, causing Kasumi's cheeks to puff up, just like the picture of Akane. The older girl turned towards the stairs, gripping her purse string tight.

"I... I'm going to go change and rest. Y... you two have fun." With that, she began to stomp away, leaving the two alone in the room.

"That was mean, Nabs." Ranma muttered, a small smile on her face despite her words while she watched Nabiki flip another page in the picture book.

"Maybe, but she started it." The Mercenary muttered back, mimicking Ranma's volume.

"Embarrassed?" The girl teased in response, running a finger across the picture in front of her, which was a bright red Nabiki staring at the camera with a large heart shaped cookie resting on the table in front of her. The words "Mommy & Daddy" were written on it in soft red icing.

"I should be asking you that." The girl shot back, ignoring the memories the picture brought and glancing at Ranma with a small smile. "Your face matched your hair for a bit there." A red tint appeared on the resting girl's face, making Nabiki's smile grow. "Besides, you're the one that wanted to get the monster off your mind. After you had that vision about..."

"I know." Ranma sighed, her expression growing somber while she rested her hands on her own lap. "I knew from the start it wouldn't really work out with those two, but to think we did even worse than when I was alone..." A soft tap on her side made her jump, changing her expression to a surprised one as she felt Nabiki's arm around her waist.

The taller girl pulled the red-head a bit closer, smiling down at her while the picture book "Don't worry. We'll figure this out... But I do wish we knew this before. We don't have much time left." Ranma nodded, squirming closer to Nabiki with her own arm going around the girl's waist.

"Yeah, but... I'm glad that we're still here right now. That this part is..." She looked to the side, her face red as her hair. "I.. I mean, I, uh..." Nabiki just chuckled at the girl's sudden embarrassment, patting gently at the pig-tailed girl's hip.

"I am too." Ranma looked up in surprise, her face growing more and more red as Nabiki leaned towards her. Ranma began to close her eyes, leaning forward as well...

* * *

… and then her eyes snapped open.

Nabiki was still there, staring with her eyebrows arched, but the two were no longer leaning against each other in the living room. Instead, they were just sitting across from each other in Ranma's room. It only took a second for Ranma to realize she had been having a vision of that situation, but she couldn't keep the large blush off her face as she stared at Nabiki with her mouth openly gaping.

But instead of a teasing smile like the Nabiki in her vision would give her, she only gave her an arched eyebrow, a clearly confused expression on her face. "What's up, Saotome? You look like you just walked in on someone in the bath." Her words just made the girl blush more, shaking her head quickly while she slid back a bit, putting more distance between the two.

"N.. No, I.. uh..." Nabiki frowned at Ranma's actions, reaching over to grab at the girl's hands which were fiddling rapidly with the bottom of her shirt. Instead of just letting her and blushing, however, Ranma pulled away and slid across the floor, her eyes wide and her face a bright red, leaving Nabiki staring with her hand awkwardly outstretched and the only noise in the room being the faint rolling of the pen Ranma had resting at her side.

The two stared for a long moment before Nabiki pulled her hand back, humming softly. "So you definitely didn't see the monster... Or maybe you did. You did say it had tentacles." A confused expression was now on Ranma's face, her flustered expression fading as she tried to make sense of Nabiki's comment. _'So it definitely wasn't that.'_ The Ice Queen thought, keeping true to her name as her face wore no expression while she regarded Ranma. _'But what_ did _he see? Something involving me by the looks of it.'_

She hummed thoughtfully, but shook her head after a moment of consideration. _'Doesn't matter. What does matter is...'_ She cleared her throat, coughing into her hand. " Mm... Never mind. Did you find out what happens if you fight with those two?" Now Ranma's face fell into a saddened expression, nodding her head as she slid herself closer to Nabiki, until they were in arm's length of each other once again.

"Sort of..." The red-head muttered, fiddling with her shirt once more, something Nabiki was beginning to wonder if it was a nervous tick the Martial Artist had gained recently. But she kept that thought to herself, letting Ranma speak. "I didn't see the fight directly...I couldn't find it. But I..." She paused, blushing heavily, but Nabiki held a hand up to keep her from continuing.

"Wait." The Tendo ordered, frowning at the now confused looking Martial Artist. "What do you mean you couldn't find it? How does it work when you're meditating?"

"Oh." Ranma blinked a bit, but hummed thoughtfully while rubbing her chin. "I guess... It's like..." She looked around for a moment before grabbing the pen she had resting beside her, along with the picture of the monster she drew. She flipped the page onto its back, starting to run the pen across it quickly with it resting on the ground in front of her.

This let the Tendo sibling see the process in action and she almost felt hypnotized by the way Ranma's hand gracefully went across the paper in rapid movements. Various shapes began to form on it, but the whole thing had a faint image of the monster in the background, due to the black picture being printed on the opposite side of the paper. Soon there were various stars and black colored orbs floating around the image of the monster in the center, with a small version of Ranma floating on the left near the beast's chest.

The round outline of Ranma's chest was the only thing that told Nabiki it was her female form in the picture, but she could tell it was supposed to be some kind of void. Like the girl was floating in space among the stars, with various planets floating in the distance.

"It's like this." Ranma stated, turning the page so Nabiki wasn't staring at it upside down. "I kind of just float around in this big void, but I can see or feel different points. But..." The red-head frowned, leaning back slightly with her arms crossing under her chest. "I couldn't find anything about the fight. It's like... It's like I couldn't see it. But I know it happens."

"And how do you know that?" Ranma frowned at Nabiki's question, watching the older girl pick up the paper and stare at the picture.

"I had a different vision. You and I were..." She paused and Nabiki glanced over the paper with an arched eyebrow as she saw Ranma's blush return. Nervously, the red-haired girl turned her gaze to the side, her hands gripping her arms while they remained crossed. "Uh... We were talking about it..." The sudden lowering of her voice put Nabiki a bit on edge, though she was sure they hadn't been in danger or anything.

If they were in danger, then Ranma would have been worried, not embarrassed. If something had happened to her, Ranma would have probably been angry.

 _'Well, maybe.'_ The girl thought to herself, putting the paper back down on the floor. _'I do treat him kind of bad sometimes. But I know he'd never let me die... That pompous ass with his coin operated chopper proved that.'_ Still, the girl frowned to herself, staring down towards her lap for a moment. _'But that was because he felt like he had to save me. Would he really be angry if I died? If he never had to see me again?'_ She looked up towards the boy turned girl and felt her lips twitch upward at the shy expression Ranma was wearing and the way her eyes widened then shot to the side the moment they met Nabiki's own.

 _'Probably. He's always been like that.'_ She shook her head a bit to clear her thoughts, but nodded. She decided to not press for full details on what they were doing just yet. That could come later. "Alright, so you know how it turns out then. Based on what you're acting like though... It's not pretty, is it?" Ranma flinched slightly, but nodded slowly.

"I don't know the exact details." She admitted, her shy expression falling and she met Nabiki's gaze head on. "But that version of me said it turned out even worse than when I was alone. Probably because I couldn't put out all my power with those two around, or..."

"Or you couldn't figure out how to stop the regeneration, so you three were just tossing power around without reason." Nabiki finished, getting a nod from the Martial Artist, who seemed a bit surprised that they were on the same page. Nabiki hummed to herself, thinking of all the details they had, before simply sighing and shaking her head. She began to stand up, stretching with her arms above her head and her eyes shut, though her right hand held the picture Ranma drew. She looked down at the red-head who slowly stood up as well, her face holding a confused expression. "Let's take a break." Nabiki offered, making the other girl gasp a bit.

"W.. What? We can't just take a..." Her face flushed as Nabiki poked her nose, effectively muting her while giving her a cool smirk.

"We can." Nabiki stated, staring down at the smaller red faced girl. She pulled her finger back, chuckling slightly. "We need more information and more time. Besides, both of us need a bit more time to think." She shook her head, looking towards the nearby window. "You've got about three hours or so before everyone gets back. Take a bath, get something to eat, and then go take a nap. You look like hell anyways." The middle-Tendo gave the red-head a once over, staring at the dirt stains on her arms and legs, along with the shadows under her eyes from the lack of sleep she had been dealing with lately.

"I didn't sleep much on the mountain." Ranma admitted, absent mindlessly glancing to her hands which had tore the mountain side apart and were covered in small burn marks from her ki as a result. Shaking her head, the red-haired girl frowned up at the Mercenary Tendo. "But can we really just take a break like that? Besides, once everyone else gets back, then we'll..."

"Oh right." The brown-haired teen interrupted, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "You're not supposed to be back yet. That's good, actually." She grinned a bit down at the confused looking red-head, starting to reach back and open the door behind herself. "Go take a bath, get something to eat, then come up to my room. Bring some of your girl clothes that you haven't worn before too, just in case." Her words made Ranma openly gape, but she paid it no mind as she began to exit the room, grinning a bit as she heard Ranma run up to the door frame.

"W.. Wait, why would I bring my girl clothes? I'm not allowed to even wear those!" Nabiki arched her eyebrow slightly at the phrasing, noticing Ranma wasn't really _against_ wearing them, but rather believed no one would let him.

 _'Guess that makes sense, given what his parents are like.'_ She looked at the red-head over her shoulder, keeping her thoughts to herself and only giving Ranma a smirk. "I don't mind if you do, personally. I get lots out of it when you do. But..." The 'But' was hastily added as she saw Ranma's expression fall, most likely thinking Nabiki was just trying to trick her now. "The real reason is because no one is here and you're not supposed to be here. If this thing is as big as you say, then we're going to need some breathing space... which we can't get if they know where you are."

Ranma stared blankly for a moment, but her eyes lit up as she realized what Nabiki was saying. "Oh... So you want me to go into hiding. That way no one really gets on our case." The idea of not having to deal with the fiancees and rivals without training was almost a foreign thought. Even on some of the previous training missions, Ranma always had someone tag along or train with him, like Akane or Ryoga. _'Wouldn't mind not dealing with that for a full week...'_ She silently admitted to herself, chewing on her lip.

"Exactly." The Mercenary smiled at the red-head, but turned away a moment later, not noticing the red tint that appeared on the girl's cheeks. Nabiki walked down the hall, placing a hand on her room's door handle, speaking loud enough that her voice carried down the hall. "It'll be a pain if they constantly interrupt us while we're planning, so we should be subtle about this. We might have to do a few things under their noses, after all." She opened her door, giving Ranma a smirk before she disappeared inside.

The pig-tailed Martial Artist just frowned as she watched Nabiki's door click closed... and she slowly sighed, turning her head towards her closet. She gulped and closed her door, walking over to the closet and opening it up. She sighed at the sight of all her clothes, then let out a heavier sigh as she stared down at the box in the corner of the closet where all her "girl" clothes had been stored away by her mother.

She wasn't sure how to feel about disobeying her mother, but it probably shouldn't have felt so satisfying to undo the tape on top of the box.

* * *

It was about an hour later that Ranma finally knocked on Nabiki's door, getting a "Come in" from the inside. Nabiki herself was sitting at her desk, her back to the door once more as she scrolled down a website's page, looking through many different types of monsters. None matched the paper sitting on her left, nor had there been any sightings of anything similar. The monster itself sounded like it took aspects from several different creatures, and yet...

 _'Nothing like that had been thought up before, as far as I can tell.'_ The Mercenary sighed, turning her head as she heard the door open, watching a little red-head step into her room with the same small box that held her pen and paper from before in her hands. What she was _wearing_ , however, made Nabiki simultaneously arch an eyebrow and whistle, making the small girl in front of her blush heavily.

"Not bad, Saotome. Can't say I expected that, but I could definitely get a huge profit if you wore that stuff more often. Surprised you even showed up as a girl, though. " Her words made the girl just blush more, pushing the door closed behind her with her bare foot. The red-head didn't say anything as she walked across the room, but Nabiki kept her eyes locked on with a smirk as she studied the girl's attire.

It was a rather risky looking night gown that was only slightly transparent, showing just the outline of the girl's large chest while thin straps rested on her exposed shoulders. The gown itself went down to her knees and if not for her chest, it would probably appear rather large on her thin body. The whole thing was a dark red color with a white, and slightly puffy, hem. It complimented her bright red hair and bright blue eyes rather nicely, though Nabiki found herself being more attracted to the cute blush on the girl's face than anything else.

 _'Wait, cute?'_ The Tendo blinked at her own thoughts but shook her head, chuckling a bit as she turned in her chair just as Ranma sat down on the edge of her bed near the desk. The red-head was just staring at her with an embarrassed expression, but she turned away quickly as Nabiki's eyes met her own. The older girl just stared with a curious expression as Ranma bit down a bit on her bottom lip, swallowing a lump of nerves in her throat.

After a moment, though, the girl spoke, her embarrassment causing her to stutter. "I didn't thi... think you'd want a real boy in here and.. uh... Y... You can take pictures, if you want... I, um... I do owe you a few favors still for helping me." The offer surprised Nabiki, having not expected to have one of those "favors" pay off so quickly and it distracted her from the amount of stuttering Ranma did. Yet...

Yet she found herself hesitating, staring at the red-head that was fiddling with the front of her gown, raising it up slightly. This caused Nabiki to smirk slightly as she saw the bottom part of Ranma's usual yellow boxers underneath and she shook her head slightly, deciding to ignore Ranma's offer...

… For now.

"You know, you'd probably feel better wearing proper underwear in that form." She pointed out, wiggling her finger towards the girl's chest. "Especially up top." Ranma's face flushed red, covering her chest with her arm, which surprised the Ice Queen enough that her smirk fell to visible to surprise. It was rare for Ranma to show any modesty, especially in his female form, since the girl had no qualms about walking around with a shirt off normally.

The brown-haired girl was brought from her shock by Ranma's words, the two bright blue eyes glancing nervously to the side. "I can't do that. It's not..." She paused, trying to find the right words. "It's not... manly." Her words were quiet, but Nabiki still caught them and let out a snort of amusement, causing the red-head to blush once again.

"Oh please. You're hardly a man right now, Saotome, and besides..." She gestured her hand up and down towards the girl's form. "You're wearing a night gown and your chest is larger than mine. There's nothing manly about that." Ranma flinched a bit from her words, a shame filled expression covering her face as she looked down at the ground. Nabiki sighed slightly at the shift in emotion, getting up and suddenly sitting beside Ranma, placing a hand on top of the girl's head. Which caused her to look up in surprise.

Nabiki patted the girl's head slightly, staring down at her. "Don't worry so much. Your parents aren't around and while I'd love to sell a picture of you like that, I'm not going to sell the info to them." She chuckled slightly, giving Ranma her best smile in order to calm the girl down a bit. "I'm not a monster, Saotome. I'm not going to get you killed..."

"You almost did in that helicopter." Ranma muttered, though there was no anger in her voice. But she kept her gaze and voice low, staring at her hands resting on her lap.

"Not my proudest moment." Nabiki admitted, running her fingers through the girl's hair slightly, which she noted was still damp from the bath Ranma had taken down stairs. "But I knew you'd be able to save us. Just like I know you will now from this monster." She chuckled softly, pulling her hand down and letting it rest on the bed behind Ranma's back while Nabiki herself leaned back a bit.

Ranma smiled a bit at the vote of confidence, giving a slight nod, but the smile fell a moment later as she let out a soft sigh. "The monster isn't my mother, though, and I can't save..." She hesitated again, looking towards Nabiki's door as if expecting someone to jump through it.

The older Tendo just shook her head slightly, giving Ranma a half lidded stare that went unnoticed since the red-head was looking away. "You can't save yourself, huh?" The slight flinch was all the answer the girl needed and she shrugged her shoulders a bit. "Do what you feel is best, I can't really help you with that woman right now. But I'll say it again... She's not here. You can wear whatever you want." Ranma didn't respond, continuing to stare towards the door. Nabiki let out another sigh, looking towards the box resting beside Ranma's left leg, the opposite of the one she was resting against herself. "Where _are_ your clothes, by the way? This isn't all you grabbed is it?"

The question was a welcome distraction, even if the topic wasn't all that different, and Ranma turned back towards her with a proud smile. "I hid them away." She grinned as she held her bare arm up, reaching under the fabric of her gown and pulling her usual Chinese silk shirt out from under her arm. "See? I mastered that technique! It was actually pretty easy, but..." She glanced to the side, pushing her shirt back under her gown. "I'm not as good at it as Mousse is." She muttered with an annoyed look on her face.

Nabiki just chuckled a bit at the pout on Ranma's face, rolling her eyes. "The guy does have years of experience with it. You can't expect to catch up right away." Her words just made Ranma's pout grow in size. The Mercenary shook her head slightly, waving her right arm around a bit. "At least you _can_ do something like that. I wouldn't even know where to start."

Ranma looked over in mild surprise at that, her head tilting a bit to the side. "I could teach you. I think you could learn it pretty easily, you've got a good amount of ki." She smirked a bit, her chest sticking out as she puffed herself up with pride. "Not as much as me, of course."

"Of course." Nabiki easily agreed, rolling her eyes again at the display of ego. The offer did leave her a bit flat footed, however, having not even had even the faintest thought of trying to learn one of the crazy Martial Arts techniques herself. She did toy around with a few things Cologne had given her after a few dealings, but nothing that involved her physical body. She considered it for a moment, running the idea through her head. _'Being able to store anything away in my sleeve would be nice, but...'_ She shrugged slightly, deciding there were more pressing matters to deal with right now. "Maybe later. You should just rest for now."

Ranma pouted slightly, but nodded her consent. "Yeah, I guess... But, uh, where is everyone anyways? I keep forgetting to ask." Once again her gaze turned nervously towards the door, expecting someone to jump through it, making her miss the slight shrug Nabiki sent her way.

"I guess you weren't here for that, but... Akane went out with some friends. Didn't really say where. Daddy got called to the community center for a meeting, and surprisingly your panda took your mother out to dinner." The Mercenary chuckled at the surprised look Ranma sent her way, shrugging her shoulders again. "I know, I was surprised as you are. Guess without you to distract her, the woman pressured him to doing something."

"I guess..." The Saotome child looked to Nabiki's window, a frown on her face. "I hope he doesn't plan on running out on the bill with Mom there, though..."

"I don't think he's suicidal." Nabiki joked, getting a slight smile in return. She waved her hand again, yawning slightly. "And you know where Kasumi is. Hope that's going well." Ranma yawned in response, her head nodding as her eyes began to droop.

"Yeah... I think it does... She goes on a third one." Nabiki's eyebrows arched, her tired expression fading.

"Oh? Was that in your vision?" The question brought another soft yawn out of Ranma, followed by a tired nod. The girl's lack of real sleep, since her previous attempts had been rather stressful, were taking their tole on her. Her bright blue eyes were already beginning to flicker a bit, struggling to keep themselves open.

"Yeah... I said that there was three good ones in a row or something... She was really happy." The two tired blue eyes looked over at Nabiki, amusement dancing in them. "Even teased you a bit and got you upset, so you teased her back."

"Teased me?" The girl repeated in surprise, having not thought Kasumi was capable of that anymore. The bigger question was what Kasumi actually teased her _about_.

But Ranma didn't give an answer to that, just nodding her head and yawning again. "Yeah... It was... pretty fun." Before Nabiki could even respond, the red-head leaned to the side, causing the older girl to jump a bit in surprise as Ranma's head hit her shoulder. She could only stare blankly as she saw the smaller girl's body relax and her breathing become more steady, falling asleep the instant her head hit the middle-Tendo's shoulder.

The brown-haired girl continued to stare for a long moment, letting out a soft laugh as she pulled the sleeping girl off her shoulder. Slowly, as to not wake her up, she moved her until she was on her back on the bed, then slid a hand under her head and moved it to the large pillow on the bed. She was thankful that Ranma was a deep sleeper when he wanted to be, especially when he was just falling asleep off guard. But she was also taken back a bit with how suddenly the boy-turned-girl had fallen asleep.

 _'Must've really had a hard time up on that mountain... Or all the stress of watching us die is getting to him.'_ She shrugged a bit to herself, pulling the blanket up to Ranma's neck and sighing as she sat back down at her desk. _'Can't really imagine what it'd be like for that to happen... But anyways, I've got to find a lead on this thing... Or just get more help.'_ With that, the Mercenary started to go back to work on searching the internet for any help on their upcoming monster.

But the girl couldn't help but rub the spot where Ranma's head had rested, feeling a strange sense of deja vu.

* * *

Kasumi hummed quietly to herself as she made her way in the house, her bright smile practically lightning up the entrance even with the light already on. She was wearing a simple white blouse and a black skirt that went past her knees, which had made her feel rather undressed when she arrived at the Silver Tiara, but none of that mattered to her date. He praised her looks, claimed she was beautiful, and then charmed her by gently kissing the back of her hand and leading her in like she was a princess.

The memory alone made her giggle like a school girl as she slipped off her shoes, walking deeper into the house with a slight skip in her step. She paused at the door way to the living room, where she could see her father and Genma watching the TV, both glancing up at the sound of her footsteps. Soun instantly smiled, tears brimming in his eyes, while Genma just smirked a bit and nodded his head before turning his attention back to the TV.

"Oh, Kasumi! I hope your date went well?" Her father inquired, his voice shaking slightly from the emotion going through him. It was clear he was trying hard not to burst into tears, to which Kasumi smiled even more, appreciating the effort. Perhaps it was a small sign of his eventual recovery?

"It was very nice, Father." The woman answered sweetly, her eyes growing warm as her mind filled with how polite and sweet the doctor had been. She could tell it was very stressful for him, if the way the man had kept pulling at his collar was any indication, but she admired the way he put all of that stress aside just to make sure the date went well. She shook her head slightly, clearing it as she realized her father was staring at her expectantly. "I've already been asked on a second one, about a week from now."

"O.. Oh! How wonderful! I'm happy for you!" The aged martial artist cheered, turning his wide smile to his fellow fighter, Genma. "Isn't that wonderful, Saotome?"

"Aye, Tendo." Genma readily agreed, turning a smile towards the man, and then towards his daughter. "Glad it all worked out for you, girl. Though I hope the trip wasn't bad." The man snorted slightly, glancing towards the door to the kitchen over his shoulder. "The trip to dinner with my wife ended up being a disaster. The meal itself was good, but it seems Nerima isn't the only place with monster trouble."

Kasumi blinked in surprise, but waved her hand slightly. "A.. Ah, the trip was fine. I took the train there. Tofu-San offered to take me there himself, but I thought it'd be better if we just met up there." She gave him a worried look, glancing towards the kitchen where she assumed Nodoka, the man's wife, was waiting. "Is everything alright, though? I hope you two didn't get hurt."

Genma scoffed, shaking his head. "My wife and I didn't have any issues except time. It took us an hour just to get there because of some monster fight in the street. Damn cops didn't even let us get a look at the monster to take care of it." Kasumi gulped slightly, nodding her head.

"I see... Ah, what about Akane? Is she in?" The woman looked towards the stairs heading up to the upper floor, starting to turn towards it just as her father began to speak.

"Oh yes, she got here just before you. Went right up to her room. I'm sure Nabiki is still in her room as well." The eldest Tendo sister hummed thoughtfully, turning a curious look towards her father.

"All day? And what about Ranma-Kun?" Both adults glanced at each other, shrugging slightly. They had forgotten to inform Kasumi of Ranma's trip, since Genma had figured she would rather focus on her trip than worry for Ranma. An odd moment of thoughtfulness that ended up paying off, if he was any judge.

"Went training." Genma answered, turning his head back towards the TV. "I don't think he'll be back for awhile. Maybe a week." The neutral voice the man had made Kasumi frown, wondering how any man could be so casual about their child leaving for a week just to train.

 _'Then again, I suppose he is a Martial Artist.'_ She solemnly thought to herself, giving the man a slight nod as she began to head up stairs. "I'm going to go change and rest a bit." She announced, stepping up the stairs quietly and making her way down the hall without waiting for a response. She slowed down as she reached Nabiki's door, starting to reach for the door's handle when it opened up slightly, making the woman flinch at the cold brown eye staring at her through the crack.

The eye grew much warmer once it realized who it was and Nabiki chuckled a bit, opening the door a bit more so her older sister could see her face, while her arm rested on the door frame, but kept her from seeing any further into the room. "Oh, it's just you, Sis. I thought it might be one of those old men again. What's up?" She glanced up and down the woman's body a bit, smirking to herself. "Looks like the date went well."

"Ah?" The sudden shift of words made Kasumi hesitate, but she gave her sister a warm smile, nodding her head. "Oh yes, the date went rather well and... I was just checking on you. Have you eaten already?" The middle Tendo shrugged her shoulders, waving her hand slightly.

"Yeah, a little. I was about to head to bed anyways, so don't bother making anything." The annoyed look appearing on the long-haired Tendo made Nabiki smirk a bit, since it was just a subtle narrowing of the eyes that indicated her annoyance. Something you had to spend years studying to really notice. "Don't get mad, Sis. I had a lot to do. I'll get something to eat after I wake up." The look didn't fade, so the Mercenary Tendo quickly tried to change the subject. "But you should tell me about your date sometime. Was it as magical as you were hoping?"

Kasumi relaxed, letting her sister change the subject as the fond memories came rushing back to her. She let out a soft sigh, clasping her hands together. "Oh yes! He was so polite and nice... The food was just wonderful too." She sighed happily, while Nabiki smiled.

"Glad to hear it, Sis, you deserve it." She started to close the door, glad her diversion worked. A slight annoyed huff met her ears as the door fully closed, letting her know that Kasumi knew full well what she just did. _'A price I'll pay later.'_ Nabiki noted, glancing back towards her bed where Ranma was resting, the girl's small body curled up slightly under the blanket. _'But a way smaller price than having to deal with Kasumi finding out about this.'_

She could hear the older Tendo walking away, knocking on Akane's door, no doubt to see how the youngest Tendo was doing. Nabiki let herself sigh in relief, walking over towards her bed with a frown on her face. She placed a hand on her hip as she stared down at her sleeping guest, a slight smirk on her face, even though the situation wasn't exactly ideal.

 _'What am I going to do about this?'_ The Ice Queen thought with a bit of amusement, already having a bit of regret in telling the young Martial Artist to sleep in her room. She should have expected Ranma to sleep the day away instead of the two hours that they had left when she first entered. Now it would just be rude to push the girl out of her bed and Nabiki was the one that offered it in the first place, so she was left with only one choice.

 _'Might as well. I'll get some shut eye, embarrass him, and of course I'll get a picture out of it.'_ She grinned to herself, pulling up a slightly bulky camera she had for a long time, pulling the covers off the red-haired girl slowly. With practiced grace, she lined the shot up to leave nothing, and yet everything, to the imagination. Once again she praised Ranma's natural talent to get into the best position to cover the best parts with his arms or legs. Even the girl's boxers weren't being shown thanks to the way the gown curved over her legs.

 _'Heh, if we ever run low on cash, I could probably get Ranma to be a model.'_ Nabiki noted to herself, grinning as she snapped a picture. _'I would be the manager, of course, and both forms would probably get a lot of cash... But I doubt he'd go for it. He can get pretty stubborn when he wants to and he seems pretty annoyed by this 'Man Among Men' crap his mom spouts.'_ She chuckled to herself, putting the camera to the side after taking a few pictures and sighed as she walked over to her closet, pulling it open and humming as she flipped through the clothing inside.

After a moment, she pulled out a pair of silk pants with a matching silk shirt, both a gentle teal color. She tossed her current clothing off and into the small basket resting inside her closet, before sliding the pajamas on with a soft hum, pulling a bit at the picture of a small brown fish resting on her right breast. That picture always made her feel a bit childish for wearing this outfit, but the soft silk feeling of the clothes made her body relax against her will. _'Not my fault it's so comfortable.'_ She reasoned, shrugging her shoulders and closing her closet.

The Mercenary let out a yawn, walking over to her silver laptop and closing it. After that, she stepped back towards her door and flipped the switch for the lights, making the only light source come from the moon light leaking through her window. The girl finally made her way back to the bed, settling in beside the sleeping red-head, who was surprisingly quiet compared to how loud the Martial Artist usually made the house hold.

Nabiki gave the girl a slight smile, glad that both of their heads were small enough for Nabiki's large pillow, and pulled the blanket up to cover them both. Soon, she closed her eyes, trying to relax and sleep, but couldn't keep the thoughts of what she had discovered out of her head.

Or rather, what she _couldn't_ discover.

 _'No matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find anything about that monster online. It's definitely something new. Something that's only going to appear only here in Nerima... So we need to think... about...'_ Her mind began to drift as the clouds of sleep began to settle in her mind. _'Getting... stronger...'_

She barely noticed Ranma pull closer to her as she fell asleep, the girl's small head resting on Nabiki's shoulder once more... and neither noticed the shocked expression of Kasumi Tendo from the doorway, barely holding onto a small plate of food in her hands. Quietly, the older woman closed the door, gulping down her nerves and making her way down the stairs.

 _No one_ could know about Ranma being in the house, especially in Nabiki's room.

Kasumi would make sure no one else found out. To keep the family safe, above all else, but also to make sure she isn't just jumping to conclusions. After all... Nabiki wasn't like that.

… Was she?

* * *

"This isn't working." Ranma muttered to herself for the third time, gripping the large cut going down her left arm. The girls whole body was covered in various cuts of different sizes, leaving her usual Chinese silks as nothing but tatters, and to add to the damage, the girl could feel water leaking into her wounds from the river she had just been tossed into moments ago.

They had been fighting for an hour now. Jumping in and out of combat in order to restock or recover, but no matter what they did...

 _It_ always won the exchange.

"Dammit, I even knew this would happen." Ranma snapped to herself, jumping across the gap between buildings and starting to close the distance to the massive creature in the distance. The massive "Godzilla"-like creature was yawning, seeming bored as it swatted away one of the two black figures jumping around it. Ranma frowned as she watched the person being tossed aside and plow into a building. She winced, watching the stone building have its wall crumble upon being struck.

But the figure recovered quickly and jumped back into the fight, sending rubble flying everywhere as they jumped back towards the beast. _'Definitely Ryoga.'_ Ranma thought to herself, stopping as she felt her whole body sway a bit when her feet hit the next roof. The loss of blood had finally caught up to her, making her mind and body scream in protest at her movement.

She clicked her tongue, putting a hand to her chest and focusing on restoring her flesh with her ki while she had some time. While she did this, she could only watch as the figure she assumed was Ryoga grabbed one of the beast's many tentacles, twisting it rapidly in the air before tearing it off completely. Ryoga then pushed off the beasts leg while holding the remains of its tentacle and used it like a whip, trying to sweep the beast off its feet.

But once again the regeneration kicked in, making the tentacle's bleeding base that was on its unpointed end attach itself to the creature's foot. This gave it control back and Ryoga was flicked off of it, sending him flying high into the air. The monster leaned back, opening its mouth wide in preparation for the Martial Artist to fall into his mouth.

Ranma growled in annoyance, preparing to jump forward to help when she saw a thin chain wrap around Ryoga's falling form, pulling him to safety on top of another building. The red-head relaxed at the sight, focusing again on healing the wounds that were oozing blood. Still, the sight of Ryoga being over powered in a test of strength, even by this thing, left a bitter taste in her mouth.

"We got so damn strong, yet this guy is just treating us like we're nothing more than an annoyance still." She growled to herself, not caring if anyone heard her talking. "Dammit... Nabs was right. We should have planned more after finding out it wouldn't work. But how? There's not any information at all..." She sighed, shaking her head as she felt the wound on her arm finally close itself completely, though she knew her ki reserves were dangerously low now after an hour of fighting the creature off.

"At least the town has been evacuated now. I won't let my home be destroyed again." Ranma clenched her fists, preparing to jump when her words caught up with her, making her hesitate. "Wait... Again? Has this... happened before?" She stared blankly at the massive creature, trying to recall if she had ever seen it outside her visions... But nothing came to mind other than the vision of Nerima in flames with the creature towering over it. She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts while her body pushed itself forward, launching her to the next building. "Doesn't matter. I must be thinking of the other visions or something. But..."

She landed neatly on her feet, then jumped to the next building, frowning. "If this is also just a vision... If my past self can see this now. Please... Find more allies. This is coming from me. Us." She clicked her tongue, glaring ahead. The idea of talking to herself, past or present, was annoying. "Whatever. The point is we need more power. More cover fire to keep the beast busy and feeling the heat. Three isn't enough. Five isn't enough. We need _more_. To protect everyone. Swallow your damn pride for once and get off your ass. You're not in a 'I can come back later' situation anymore. This is a do or die. So don't die..."

Her hands cupped together in front of her as she shot forward, aiming herself right at the middle of the beast's hip, just above its massive legs. "Not like I am. Not like we all are. If you're listening, if this is just a possibility and not a certainty, then make it an _impossibility._ We can't beat this alone." Her words were lost to everyone but herself as her power burst forward, ripping through the beast like a knife through butter. Soon she was just screaming, pushing the blade of ki up until it was sticking all the way up the creature's body, right through the side of its head.

She jumped down and stumbled back, falling onto her rear with the ki blade dying down. "I don't want this to happen." She muttered to herself, her voice hoarse from screaming while she struggled to stand up straight. "Find people we haven't met yet. Find people we would have never met without this power. It has to be possible. I won't accept anything less." The creature was already recovering from her attack and it was clearly annoyed by the damage done to it, turning its harsh glare down towards her.

Ryoga and Mousse were no where to be seen, but she just gave the monster a cocky grin, falling into a battle stance. The red-head let her remaining ki flow out of her, towering above her form, but only reaching the chest of the beast glaring at her. But it did not attack. Instead, it just stared, waiting to take on anything the young heir had remaining.

Ranma was happy to oblige.

With a scream of rage and desperation, the ki she had been piling up shot forward like a snake, tearing into the beast's midsection and flying upwards, once again trying to impale the beast's brain. The creature roared in pain and agony, but made no move to fight the technique beyond taking a single step forward.

"I am... Saotome Ranma!" The cry echoed even over the beast's screams and anyone who _could_ watch found their eyes transfixed on the small red head at the creature's feet, rather than the massive beast towering over her. "Heir to the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts! I shall not let you, a vile being of evil, touch my home or my family! Not again! I shall destroy your very essence throughout time! Past, Present, and Future!" Her words barely reached the beast as it stepped forward again, which Ranma mimicked as she stepped towards the beast, even as her legs shook with pain from the energy she was letting out.

"Your time..." She whispered, letting her hands slowly clap together as she stood under the creature itself. Her eyes slowly began to close as her body began to fall back onto the ground, her final words leaving her just as her head hit the stone underneath. "... is up."

Everything slowly began to go black... and her last sight, the last thing she heard, was the creature's arrogant laughter.

* * *

Nabiki Tendo stared at the sleeping form of Ranma in front of her, silently wondering how she got into this situation.

She was laying on her side with one hand around Ranma's waist under the blankets covering them, having some how wormed its way there during the night, and to make matters worse... Ranma had also done the same, but had done it over top of Nabiki's own hand, leaving her arm stuck unless she wanted to move the girl beside her. The other arms were resting between their chests, just barely touching. Their legs were also intertwined and the smaller girl had her red-head resting on the pillow right in front of Nabiki's own face.

She was glad that _she_ was the one that did the black mailing in the family. If the Mercenary caught anyone else in this situation, it would have been a gold mine. As it stood, however...

 _'I can't even move.'_ She thought irritably, unable to do anything but stare at Ranma's face and wait for the girl to wake up. She _could_ just wake the Martial Artist up, the thought had definitely drifted through her head more than once, but a variety of reasons stopped her. For one, part of her thought it would be admitting defeat in some way. As if she couldn't be the one embarrassed by the situation. She had to stay in control. She also felt that there was a chance Ranma was having a vision, which isn't something she wanted to interrupt.

But the other reason was much more treacherous. A small thought she didn't even address, nor would she ever. Instead, she just noted how Ranma's face twisted into anger while she slept, which gave some form of vindication for the young Tendo. The red-head was definitely having a vision of some kind and it would be bad to interrupt it, if she even could.

 _'Still need to figure out how that works, though I've got an idea of how part of it works, at least.'_ Nabiki thought to herself, humming softly. _'At least some of it is pretty clear. But there's always... Tears?'_ The last part was addressed to the small bit of liquid escaping Ranma's eyes, falling down her gentle face and onto Nabiki's pillow. The sight made the young Mercenary openly gape, having not expected Ranma to actually cry, even in her sleep.

 _'Didn't even know he_ could _cry.'_ She admitted to herself, frowning at the very thought. _'I guess I never really bothered to learn about him beyond being a martial arts jock... Even he cares, huh?_ ' She hummed to herself, but was pulled out of her thoughts by the slight sob coming from the girl beside her. Nabiki bit her lip slightly upon hearing the sound, her fingers wiggling slightly. _'S... Should I wake him up? I don't want to interrupt the vision, but it could just be a bad dream too...'_

Another sob made her flinch and she started to move her hand when Ranma's blue eyes snapped open, meeting Nabiki's surprised gaze. The two stared at each other for a long moment before Nabiki gave the girl a cool smirk, her eyebrow arched slightly. All her previous emotions were pushed aside, making her voice come out as calm and collected as ever. "Morning, Saotome."

Her greeting broke the trance Ranma had been in and the red-head shot backwards with wide eyes, her hands pressed hard against the wall while the blanket flew off to the bottom of the bed. Tear stains still marked the spot where her head had rested on the pillow, but the more obvious ones were on down her cheeks with the last bit of liquid flying off from the red-head's sudden movement.

Nabiki clicked her tongue a bit in response to the sudden escape, starting to sit up and stretch, rolling her shoulders a bit since her arm had been in one position for far too long.

"Honestly, Saotome, you don't have to..." The Ice Queen started, only to pause as she saw Ranma's form curl into a small ball against the wall, her hands covering her head and her face in her knees, while she laid on her side.

"I.. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! Please don't..." The girl's form shook with sorrow and she let out a low sob, which felt like a punch to Nabiki's chest now that Ranma was fully awake. The red-haired girl just continued to lay there even as Nabiki leaned forward on the bed, moving herself across it to get closer to Ranma's form. This made the small girl curl up even more, muttering "I'm sorry..." into her legs.

Nabiki could only stare, for once not feeling even the slightest urge to blackmail the boy-turned-girl over his sudden rush of emotions. It was clear the vision had taken a heavy chunk of the boy's usual pride and...

 _'This is because of Akane, too, I bet.'_ She silently admitted to herself, letting out a soft sigh, staring down at Ranma's shaking form. _'From all the times she's whacked him for falling asleep near her, mixed with whatever the hell he just saw... This is definitely his most vulnerable. I could probably get his services for life if I played my cards right.'_ She hummed to herself, considering her options, but her body had other plans. Without even thinking about it, she sat on her knees beside Ranma's form, slowly placing her hand on the girl's red hair.

The act caused the shaking to cease, but only after a hard flinch. The Mercenary could also see Ranma's eyes being clinched tightly, as if expecting pain, though she briefly wondered if Akane could even hurt Ranma anymore. The boy, and girl, had completely overshadowed Akane from the get-go, but the months of training and challenges had only widened that gap. It seemed the pain of the hit itself may not have hurt too much, but...

 _'Definitely emotional damage.'_ Nabiki thought to herself, feeling a bit of anger towards her younger sister. It wasn't the first time she felt anger towards her sister's abuse regarding Ranma, though she typically pushed those emotions aside and focused on making money instead. Rarely, she'd even try to get the two together, but that often ended more poorly than she liked to admit, despite her best efforts.

 _'Well, excluding the time I took him from my jealous little sis for a bit... That one ended pretty well, for about a week.'_ She sighed a bit, running her fingers through Ranma's hair, smirking a bit as she realized what she was doing while she was lost in thought. _'Looks like my cards were all jokers.'_

She put on her best smile as Ranma looked up with wide, teary eyes that were red and puffy from crying. "Calm down, Sa-." She paused, rolling her shoulders once and sighing as she ran her fingers through the red strands again. "Ranma. I'm the one that told you to rest there. I'm not going to get on your case for it." Ranma just sniffed in response, turning her gaze to the side and swallowing.

Nabiki sighed softly, running her fingers down the pigtail that Ranma still wore, even to bed. "I only charge you an explanation, even minor, for it. That sound fair?" The red-head looked up in confusion, but flinched when Nabiki's other hand pointed towards the pillow resting on the bed. "Did you have another vision, or just a bad dream?"

Ranma gulped slightly, slowly starting to uncurl herself, though she still laid on her side, letting Nabiki's fingers run through her hair. "It was... terrible. I mean... Overall... It was the same as always, but even with all three of us... We were nothing." Her voice was quiet, but shook with emotion, staring blankly forward from the memories invading her. "Even with all I had I couldn't even stop him for a second."

"I see." Nabiki let out another sigh, pushing her fingers a little deeper into Ranma's mass of hair and running her fingers through the strands. Even though Ranma had just a simple bath yesterday, the strands still felt silky smooth and even made a low rumbling sound when Nabiki's fingers went through them.

 _'Wait, rumbling? That's not the sound hair would make... That's...'_ The middle Tendo sibling paused completely, making the rumbling stop, but it continued when she started again. Curiously, she stared down at Ranma's face to see if she noticed, only to bite her lip hard as she saw the pleased expression Ranma was wearing with her eyes closed. It took only a moment of staring to figure out the rumbling was coming from _Ranma_ , rather than the hair, as she saw the slight vibration of the red-head's throat.

 _'Oh my god he's purring.'_ It took all of Nabiki's will power to _not_ start laughing at the very idea, but she knew it would embarrass and possibly anger Ranma if she did. _'He definitely doesn't know. He'd be freaking out about a cat being around if he could hear himself.'_ She cackled in her mind, continuing to pet the girl for a few more moments before pulling her fingers away with a soft chuckle managing to escape.

The look of disappointment on Ranma's face for just an instant made her snort slightly, which Ranma glanced up at quickly. The girl turned her head away, unable to meet Ranma's curious blue eyes. "A... Any, uh... Any leads b... Besides that?" Nabiki stuttered out, trying not to laugh as she slid off the bed to get to her feet.

Ranma stared curiously for a moment before getting up to her knees, rubbing at her eyes. "N.. Not much. I could only make out... Something about getting more allies. People we haven't met yet. I don't know what that means... So I think I was just grasping at straws, or something..."

"Sounds like you." Ranma's cheeks puffed up at the teasing, but blinked as Nabiki tossed a wad of cash at her. It was caught easily, but Ranma stared in confusion as the Tendo smiled at her. "Go get something to eat. You can't come down for breakfast yet. But don't spend all of that, alright? We'll meet up in... Let's say an hour at the park. Sound good?"

Ranma blinked a few times, slowly nodding her head. "Uh, sure, Nabs... But do you have any ideas?" She started to crawl off the bed, pausing briefly to glance at the tear stained pillow.

"Not one." Ranma's hand slipped when Nabiki spoke, making her fall onto her face off the bed. The sight made Nabiki chuckle, holding her hand out, which Ranma accepted with a pout. "But I figured we'd have an easier time finding new people outside than sitting around here." She admitted while pulling Ranma to her feet, getting a slight nod in response.

"Yeah... That's true. I guess I'll see you later then, Nabs." The young Martial Artist let go of Nabiki's hand, only to vanish a moment later. The Mercenary blinked in surprise, looking over as her window in front of her desk slid open and then closed. She mentally filed down the invisibility technique to being back on Ranma's plate, having thought the move was sealed away, but shook her head a bit.

"Better not be hiding in here waiting for me to get undressed." She lightly teased, starting to pull her top off. "Not that I'd mind, but I'd have to charge a fee." There was no sound other than her clothing moving, so she let out a low chuckle. She didn't think Ranma would stoop that low, nor would he even be interested to begin with.

The thought of him peeking through the window didn't even cross her mind.

* * *

Nabiki hummed thoughtfully as she sat at the table, flicking through the pages of the news paper that she stole... or rather, commandeered for her own uses. This left the man pouting as he ate his rice, staring at the TV while flicking through channels. The rest of the family sat around the table quietly, much more quietly than normal with Ranma gone, with Genma and Nodoka sitting beside each other near the door and Akane resting beside her father, watching him flick through channels.

Kasumi was the last to sit, taking a spot beside Nabiki near the entrance of the kitchen with a bright smile on her face. "I hope everyone is enjoying the meal." She blinked, looking over at Nabiki briefly, noting the girl was wearing a rather casual set of jeans and a black tank top. She filed the clothes away for later questioning, due to her other sister speaking up.

"It's great as usual, sis." Akane answered her sister with a smile, turning to look over her shoulder, drawing Kasumi's attention away. She was holding a bowl of rice in her hand, while the plate of her previous meal was already resting behind her without a scrap on it. "Should let me help next time. We can make it even better." Everyone slightly paled at her words, even the normally stoic Nodoka glanced to the side while sipping a cup of tea to keep her gaze from meeting Akane's.

"Ah..." Kasumi looked to the side a bit, picking at her own rice. "P.. Perhaps later, Akane-Chan. Maybe, uh, once Ranma-Kun is back." Kasumi didn't like pushing the boy to be Akane's guinea pig for her cooking, but he was the only one in the family that could actually survive it. Something everyone else knew as well, though for once Nabiki felt a bit of irritation that Ranma was being pushed in front of the Akane-truck once again.

 _'It's not like he doesn't have enough to deal with right now. We might have to extend that week, or he'll end up in the hospital before the monster even gets here.'_ She thought to herself, not noticing the glance Kasumi sent her way from the sound of her fingers gripping the news paper in her hands a bit tighter.

"Tch, that idiot doesn't appreciate my cooking, or yours." Akane snapped back, ignoring the slight twitch of Kasumi's eye since Ranma never hesitated to eat anything she put at the table. The blue-haired girl suddenly turned around completely though, distracting Kasumi from her previous words as the little sister's eyes lit up. "That reminds me! How'd your date go? I was already passed out when you got back, so you didn't tell me."

"Oh!" Kasumi blinked a bit, seeming to have forgotten she didn't tell everyone. She had attempted to check on Akane, but found the girl already fast asleep on her bed after her full day of dealing with her friends. Kasumi's smile returned as she got a far off look, pushing the later memories aside in favor of her date. "It was quite wonderful. The food was amazing and Tofu-Kun was so sweet and kind..."

"Oh yes, he did seem quite handsome as well." Nodoka added, nodding her head and blinking as all eyes turned towards her, excluding Genma who slapped his forehead with a heavy sigh, keeping his gaze low. "Eh? What?"

Soun cleared his throat slightly, looking over his shoulder with a nervous expression on his face. "How... do you know what he looks like? I don't think you've ever met..." He blinked as her face suddenly going pale and her eyes shifted to the side to avoid their gazes. "Oh... You didn't..." He gulped, glancing over at Kasumi who had a blank smile on her face, staring at Nodoka with her eyes half open.

"o.. Of course not!" Nodoka snapped back, keeping her eyes away still. "I'd never do something like that."

Genma let out a heavy sigh, shaking his head while holding it with his hand. "My wife, I do love you." Genma muttered with his hands going over his eyes. "But you are a terrible liar." Nodoka's cheeks turned a bright red as she glared at her husband, only to flinch as she met Kasumi's half-lidded gaze.

Nervously, the woman coughed into her hand, looking to the koi pond outside. "I.. I only followed to make sure you didn't get caught up in anything... It can be very dangerous out there!" She huffed, slightly palming the hilt of the sword that was forever by her side. "I.. I didn't want anything to happen to you on your first date... Though we only saw the end, thanks to those monsters."

"Not that we were going to go to the same restaurant or anything." Genma added, shrugging his shoulders slightly.

"That would be too obvious." His wife admitted, getting a nod from the man, while Kasumi just let out a low sigh. It wasn't like she minded that much, but for her first date in _forever_ to be such a big deal...

"That's... It's fine, Auntie. But please don't follow us all the time. I do appreciate the thought though." She gave the woman a smile, to which the Saotome relaxed to, sighing softly.

"I know. It won't happen again, but..." She squirmed, frowning at the eldest Tendo sister. "Please be careful, dear."

"Of course." Kasumi easily agreed, blinking as Nabiki put the news paper down suddenly, staring right at the two Saotomes at the table. She had only been half listening, having been engrossed in a report of the price of gems going up, when Nodoka's words finally registered.

"Wait, what about monsters? I thought the restaurant was in Juuban." She questioned with a confused expression on her face, getting a firm nod from Genma with his arms crossed.

"Indeed. My wife and I walked..."

"Well, he walked. I rode." Nodoka interjected, giving Genma a slight smile. "It had been some time since you let me ride in your arms." The bald man coughed into his hand with a blush, ignoring the smiles Akane and Kasumi were sending his way from the scene.

 _'Guess he has a heart after all.'_ They both thought simultaneously. The last sister just frowned, focusing completely on Genma, despite the profit she could have gotten out of embarrassing the man.

"A... Anyway..." Genma grumbled, straightening his glasses slightly. "Yes, there were monsters on our way there. The cops wouldn't let us pass, which is why it took us so long to get there." He shrugged his shoulders. "Apparently they had a team dealing with them, but the road had been closed even after it was dealt with due to the damage to it. Wouldn't even let us walk by." He clicked his tongue in annoyance, while Nabiki just hummed thoughtfully, pulling the newspaper back up to hide her grin.

"Interesting. I figured Nerima was the gathering point of all monsters, but I guess other places have them too." Genma snorted at her words, not noticing the excitement in them as he nodded again.

"Indeed. Why, when Soun and I were boys the Master had us fighting numerous monsters!" The man's boast made the girls roll their eyes and Nabiki was already beginning to put the paper down.

"Aha, I recall that, Saotome!" Soun visibly grew excited from the memories, turning to look at his life long friend. "Why, back when we first met the master he tossed us forward to fight that yeti in the mountains! That thing tossed us around like rag dolls!"

"Not our proudest moment!" Genma laughed, slapping his knee as Nabiki stood up, shaking her head.

"Thanks for breakfast, sis. I've got stuff to do, so I might be in late. I'll have my phone on me if you need me." Kasumi nodded quietly, watching Nabiki walk off towards the stairs. She couldn't keep the worried expression off her face, but thankfully the others were too distracted by her father's loud voice to notice.

 _'Perhaps...'_ She glanced to the side towards Nodoka, but quickly turned her gaze away so no one would notice. Nodoka had only followed her to her date to make sure she was safe... _'Perhaps that isn't a terrible idea after all...'_ The house keeper quietly admitted to herself, trying to think what the best course of action was for her family.

* * *

 _ **Chapter... END! On a bit of a cliff hanger, too.**_

 _ **The next part is where the story gets a little sillier, but then it delves into more serious matters. I hope everyone enjoyed the unfinished plot and, again, if it gets a lot of attention I might actually try to finish this one. It has an ending, after all, and unlike the others, I**_ **want** ** _to finish it..._**

 _ **But only if others will really enjoy it, y'know? Regardless, I'll post the next unfinished plot in a couple days, maybe a week, and tell everyone what the status is on this story being made into its own... Although it may just pop up on my profile, so hey, toss an author follow if you want to be updated even sooner if I decide to do it anyways.**_

 _ **Hope you guys enjoyed either way and look forward for more stuff to come!**_


	9. Bounty Hunter (Ch1)

_**Something I made sometime last year, 2015. Can't recall where the original idea came from, possibly another story I read somewhere, but it was interesting to write! Like the last one, this one will be split into separate chapters. But this story was meant as a... bloodier tone than my other stories. Not quite sure I'd want to continue this one. It has quite a few issues.**_

 _ **But speaking of the last one: I've decided that, due to the few people that claimed to be interested in the idea, I will be posting Oracle of Nemesis as its own story. It'll be updated to Chapter 4 in about a week or so. How often it will update is still up in the air, since I'm still very spontaneous in my writing blocks, but I'll be honest when I say getting people to review, even negative ones, are inspiring.**_

 _ **Still not sure on if I should keep the name and summary as they are, so toss some suggestions if anyone thought of any! But more importantly, here is:**_

Tales of a Kunoichi: Alternate Reality - Bounty Hunter (Draft Title:Hope is something to Hunt for)

Summary: Gifted with the power to shift her shape, Uzumaki Naruto was far from a normal child. But when she uses that power to save someone precious to her, she finds herself fleeing from Konoha out of fear. With no one left around her, she finds the best way to get by... is to hunt.

 **Important Differences** : Naruto was born 2 years before the series start, making her 14 while the regular Genin in Canon is 12. This story will touch on the past very briefly, and that is intentional. Some events will happen further down the line.

* * *

 **Five years after the attack of the Kyuubi...**

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed as he stared through a thick glass towards the figure within, who was quietly playing with small colorful blocks. The sight made him feel much older than he actually was, and he was old to begin with. The figure was a small five year old girl, with her blonde hair going down her back and her bright blue eyes taking everything in with her natural curiosity. Her clothing was just a light shirt that hung loosely around her thin body and a pair of brown shorts, both of which had spots of dirt across them.

She was quietly stacking blocks in the small room she was in, which only had the blocks, a bed, and a small box full of toys to keep her busy. The door was not visible in the room, due to it only being able to open from the outside. The thought made Hiruzen frown even more.

The soft tap of footsteps brought the man's attention away from the window, and he sighed as he stared into the one squinted eye of his friend and rival, Danzo Shimura who took a spot beside him and stared into the room as he had moments before. There were no words as they watched the child play with the blocks, until her arm, which appeared normal at first, suddenly turned into a large ax and chopped one of the red blocks in half, an annoyed look on her face as she did so.

The sight caused Hiruzen to sigh once more, but it was Danzo who spoke up first, "What shall we do with her, Hiruzen?" The War Hawk muttered quietly, watching the child's arm return to normal. "She is far from normal, and far from safe. It must be the influence of the Kyuubi's chakra on her body." The last part was said with a hint of despair, even he had hoped the Kyuubi's influence would not appear on the child.

The Kyuubi had, after all, nearly taken his life with just a swipe of its paws five years ago during the attack on Konoha. The beast was even able to best Hiruzen to an extent, leaving him near the same state Danzo was in. It was something to be feared.

"I do believe you are right, or it is some bloodline hidden in her body..." The Third Hokage muttered, his hands behind his back as he stared into the window. The child was creating new blocks now, by forming them on her hand and then letting them fall off onto the ground, where she used them to finish what she was building. "It must be partly that, since she seems to be a natural at using it." Hiruzen noted.

Danzo nodded slightly, crossing his arms over his chest. There was a few moments of silence before Danzo spoke again, "I could..."

Hiruzen held his hand up, cutting the man off before he could finish his words, "No, you cannot. This sort of power is not something that can be used effectively without the reasoning of right or wrong." Danzo frowned at his words, having wished to turn the child into an emotionless 'Root' member, but he nodded his consent. Even he, as much as he hated to admit it even to himself, knew emotions tied in to 'right' and 'wrong.'

"What shall we do with her then?" He muttered again, glancing over at Hiruzen with his one eye.

The Third was silent for a few moments, before he slowly bowed his head, "I will teach her to live on her own... and then put her into the academy. I will teach her right and wrong... and I know of a few people who would be happy to assist her." Danzo snorted slightly, looking back towards the window with a blank look on his face.

"If you say so, Hiruzen. I know not if that is the best course of action, but only time will tell." With that, he slowly turned and walked away, not bothering to look back towards his long time friend.

Hiruzen watched him go before turning his attention back to the child, who was smiling as she stared at a small and colorful castle she built on her own. He placed his hand gently against the glass, smiling himself at the scene, "I will try my best with you... Naruto Uzumaki."

* * *

 **Ten years after the attack of the Kyuubi...**

Birds chirped, the sun shined, and children played in the streets of the village of Konoha. To any on looker, it was a peaceful time. But that would not last long, as two tragedies were beginning to take place at the same time in this "peaceful" village. Only one was planned, but both were equally horrible.

The first attracted the attention of the ANBU, who handled the security and the more 'dirty' jobs of Konoha. These Ninja were the best at what they did: Protection and Assassination. It was rare for any normal civilian or for another Ninja of the highest skill to see them during their job. Now, however, there were hundreds flying across the rooftops towards one of the largest districts in the Village, to stop the massacre of the famed Uchiha Clan.

It was this lapse in security that caused an even greater tragedy that would harm Konoha for years to come. Spies were natural in this world of Ninja, and many of them were professional spies that could slip through the tightest security. However, the most dangerous spy... was one made in the village itself.

A man named Mizuki, a Chunin that worked at the Konoha Ninja Academy, was one of these. While he would not have chanced doing something risky normally, he had something the other spies did not...

A gullible tool.

The tool in the shape of a cute ten year old girl with her long blonde hair flowing down her back and her bright innocent blue eyes, wearing a orange tank top with black baggy pants. She was rather short, barely reaching Mizuki's chest as she stood in front of him, her head tilted curiously to the side.

"So I just have to get the scroll..?" She asked a bit timidly, uncertain if he was telling her the truth. She had just failed the Academy's test to become a Ninja again, although not because of her own lack of skill. The test required her to preform a 'Clone Jutsu' as a requirement to pass, but she was unable to do it, although she aced the other portions of the exam. It was an odd system.

Then, as she was brooding, Mizuki appeared and offered her another chance: Obtain the Forbidden Scroll of Secrets in the Hokage Tower to pass. A secret test, apparently, given to those who could not do the regular test. It was a bit... questionable, but Mizuki was a trusted teacher, and Naruto had little reason not to believe him.

"Yep, that's right." The gray hair man stated with a grin, holding his finger up. "You don't have much time, so if you want to pass, you have to do it quick. I already told you where the scroll is located, you just have to slip in and grab it... Then meet me at the old shack just south of the tower." Naruto frowned slightly at his words before nodding her head, a bright smile lighting up on her face.

"Okay! And then I'll be a real Ninja, right?" Mizuki grinned and nodded his head... unknowing of the two eyes watching the scene from afar.

* * *

Naruto panted softly as she stood in front of the shack, rubbing her head with her arm to clean off some of the sweat. It was easy to get inside and get the scroll, but getting out was more of a problem. It was about mid day, nearly night, and there were always people looking to annoy her on her way down the street. She was forced to used the rooftops, which caused some of the real Ninja to shout at her in annoyance, since Civilians and Academy students were not allowed to do something so dangerous.

Still, the result was worth it and she grinned as she held her left hand up, allowing a large golden scroll to slowly fall out of her palm. Her arm twitched slightly at the action, but she paid it no mind. She had long since got used to her abilities. She was able to change her body into any shape or form, and even 'absorb' things into her body. It allowed her to copy that form as well, but she was unable to copy power of something completely.

A matchstick made with her power would burn like a real one, but anything related to chakra would fail to be copied. A scroll's lock, a rock coated in chakra... Fire made with chakra. None of that was able to be copied, but she knew she could make them herself by using Jutsu anyways.

She cleared her head by shaking it back and forth, blinking as she felt a presence appear behind her. She turned and smiled at the sight of Mizuki, who began to clap with a smile as he stood there. He was slightly different than before, with two large shuriken on his back, but she paid it no mind as she happily held up the scroll.

"I got it, Mizuki-Sensei! So I get a headband now, right?" She grinned as he chuckled, but her face soon fell as he removed one of the shuriken from his back. "Mizuki-Sensei..?"

Mizuki just chuckled louder, spinning the shuriken in his hand slowly with a large grin on his face. "You know... I always wanted to kill you." He admitted freely, causing the girl's eyes to widen. "Everyone does, really." He continued, taking a step towards her, which caused her to take a step back. "Do you know why? It's because ten years ago... You attacked this village." Naruto's eyes widened further and she took another step back, just as Mizuki stepped forward.

"W.. What are you talking about..? I .. I wasn't even..." The girl stuttered out, fear in her eyes as she felt the shack's wall against her back. There was no where else to back up to.

"Oh but you were." The gray hair man smiled, keeping a few feet away from Naruto now. "You attacked it, killed my parents, and ruined this village... You've heard it, haven't you? People calling you Demon... Fox Spawn... But I know that you're really it, aren't you? You're the Kyuubi!" With that, he slung his arm back with the shuriken spinning quickly before he tossed it towards Naruto's head. The girl paid it no mind as she was paralyzed in fear and shock, though she jumped as Mizuki yelled, "Die, Kyuubi!"

 _Clang_

Mizuki's eyes widened at the sight before him, as Iruka Umino, his partner in teaching at the Academy, stood there with a dented kunai in one hand and a large frown on his face. The kunai began to fall as he stood there, and it was evident that his wrist had snapped from stopping such a large and spinning weapon. The expression on his face held no pain, however, as he glared forward towards his fellow teacher.

Mizuki just stared at him, confusion and shock evident on his face as he took a small step back from the fierce expression on Iruka's face. "I... Iruka? What are you doing here?" Iruka glared at him for a few more moments before turning his head towards the blonde behind him.

"Get out of here, Naruto. I'll handle Mizuki. Don't let him get that scroll." The girl looked up at him with fear in her eyes, but she nodded meekly, slowly making her way around the shack. Mizuki growled as he saw her and began to run towards her when Iruka jumped in his way, nearly taking his head off with another kunai in hand.

"Dammit, Iruka! Let me kill her! She killed your parents too!" Iruka's glare just became more intense from his words and Mizuki huffed, pulling a kunai out of the pouch on his right hip. "Fine... I don't know how you knew about this, but we'll settle this here!" He charged forward and Iruka met his kunai with his own.

The battle, despite its intensity, was short.

While their skills were about even, Mizuki was better equipped than Iruka for such a fight, having prepared before hand, and Iruka was sporting a broken wrist. It wasn't long that Mizuki gained the advantage and pinned Iruka to the shack behind him with two kunai sticking out of his shoulders. The brown haired teacher grunted in pain and panted softly, unable to move his arms the way he wanted to.

Mizuki growled as he held the last of his large shuriken to his side, starting to spin it slowly as he stared at Iruka. "This is the end, Iruka. I'll get that fox too once I'm done with you..." Iruka coughed softly, glaring at Mizuki with hatred in his eyes.

"Why... Mizuki? I thought you loved the village... And you know about seals. She isn't the fox. It's just..."

"A lie!" Mizuki interrupted, slamming the kunai in Iruka's left shoulder further into his flesh, making the man cry out in pain. "I know that bitch is the fox in disguise... I saw it with my own eyes, how she changes her body around... No human can do that! Besides... My loyalty is to Orochimaru-Sama." He grinned as Iruka's eyes widened in horror. "But I can't let you tell anyone... So goodbye, Iruka!" Iruka closed his eyes tightly, waiting for the blow to come...

When it didn't come, his eyes snapped open and widened at the sight of Mizuki standing in front of him, a blade sliding through his neck from behind. The gray hair man tried to turn his head to see who stabbed him, only for the wielder to suddenly jerk the blade to the side, cutting his neck clean off and causing his body and head to fall to the ground with a thump.

Behind him was a panting Naruto, her right arm having the shape of a long steel blade, starting just below her shoulder. Blood dripped down it and some was coating her shirt and face, after it squirted out of Mizuki's neck. The most notable feature was her eyes, which were wide in fear and panic, and it was clear by her heavy panting that she was beginning to have trouble breathing. Her hand began to slowly change back to its natural shape, with blood coating her skin now, and she began to take slow steps back away from the corpse at her feet.

Iruka, his mouth slightly agape at the scene before him, quickly shook his head, noticing the signs of panic on his student... and friend. "Naruto! Calm down..!" He shouted, but that was apparently the wrong move to make, and he desperately wished his arms were free as the blonde girl jumped in the air in front of him, disappearing into the trees above. "Wait..!" He struggled out, his body slowly beginning to shut down to protect him from the pain going through him.

The last thing he saw was her bright blue eyes staring at him as he fell unconscious from blood loss.

* * *

She ran. Fast.

It didn't matter where she went now. She killed someone, and that was a grand crime, especially for someone like her. She even used her shape shifting ability to do it, something she promised to never use to fight someone, unless she could help it. She could have punched, or kicked him from behind, but she stabbed him and chopped his head off...

As her feet fell heavy against the forest floor, the wall of Konoha growing distant behind her as she ran, she knew it was not the act of killing that scared her away, or the idea of punishment. The Hokage and Iruka would not have allowed her to be punished so easily... No, she knew the real reason she was so eager to leave, so eager to get away from that body...

It was to escape... from the rush of excitement and power she got from killing him.

* * *

 **Three months later...**

It was difficult, being alone in the world, but Naruto had learned quickly how to live off the land. She had already set up many tents and camp sights, though she made sure to cover her trail in case anyone from Konoha thought to chase her down, if they even knew of her continued existence.

Even if they found her, however, she knew they would not recognize her.

Her long blonde hair had been cut to the neck and her bright blue eyes were now a deep violet, giving her a unique appearance. Her blood soaked clothing had been discarded and replaced by her own power to shift shapes, creating a tight white tank top that fit her small frame nicely, a pair of long dark green cargo pants with many pockets, and a pair of dark green hiking boots. She often wished to make them orange, but felt that would draw too much attention.

She was currently chewing on a piece of rabbit, which she had cooked just moments before on the roaring fire in front of her, but the taste was … bland. She had no spices or knowledge of the plant life around her. It would be a bad idea to eat a poisonous plant on accident, after all.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts, sighing softly to herself as she scooted closer to the fire. _'Three months, and not a sign of anyone chasing me... I didn't really hide my scent, or anything, but I don't know how that works when I change my body...'_ Sarutobi hadn't really gone over that, now that she thought about it. Maybe he didn't know, or he didn't want her to know. He did, however, tell her about the Inuzuka and their ability to track anyone through their canine nose.

The thoughts of Konoha had her sighing again, staring into the flames as tears began to brim in her eyes. _'I was so stupid... I shouldn't have just ran like that. Iruka-Sensei is probably dead because of me... I should have helped him, at least... Why did I run?'_ She knew there was only one answer to that question, but she refused to accept it...

Refused to accept her fear.

The sudden snap of a twig brought her out of her musings and she hastily stood up, glaring towards the sound with her hand reaching behind her back, though she knew no weapon laid behind it. Ninja must always be deceptive in battle.

"Come out. I already heard you." She stated boldly, after waiting a few moments for more movement. After a few seconds, a man slowly walked out, a cocky grin on his face as his hand rested on the hilt of a long katana strapped to the left side of his waist. He was wearing a simple kimono with a bland dark blue pattern with the front opened up to reveal his slightly hairy chest. A pair of sandals rested on his feet and his short brown hair moved slightly in the wind while his equally brown eyes stared at her with a bored expression.

"Hey there girly... Just lookin' for a good time, and some grub..." He slurred out a bit, causing Naruto's nose to scrunch up as she smelled the alcohol on his breath.

"You're drunk?" She questioned, before shaking her head as his grin grew. "No, I don't have any more food, I'm barely getting by as is." He huffed softly, eying her up and down for a moment before letting out a loose chuckle.

"Yeah, guess you are... Let me take care of that." Without warning, the man dashed forward with the blade sliding out of its holster on his hip, sliding through the air towards Naruto's neck.

She had just a moment to react, but the girl had not been just sitting and eating while she was on the run, and she was already top of her class when it came to physical activity. With a graceful movement, she ducked under the blade and jerked her left hand up, her hand changing into a knife before slicing up the man's chest.

He quickly pushed away from her and grunted, glaring at her with his cocky demeanor fading as he held onto the straight cut along his chest, which caused him to pant slightly. "You bitch... How the hell did you cut me..?" He grunted out, as Naruto had already changed her hand back to normal before the man had seen.

She huffed to herself and glared at him, crossing her arms in front of her body. "I'll give you one last chance to retreat." She stated simply, not answering his question, although her focus was anywhere but the man as he glared in anger at her. It was on the excitement running slowly through her veins.

With a grunt, the man spat blood onto the ground and pulled his blade up again, charging at her with an angry shout. She sighed as he approached, not bothering to move as a figure fell from behind him, kicking at the back of his knees. The result was instant as he stumbled forward towards Naruto's arm, which transformed into a large blade from her elbow down, resembling the same blade of the katana the man was wielding.

His eyes winded for the last time as his head was cleanly chopped off as he fell onto the blade, flying into the air before Naruto caught it by his hair, staring at it in annoyance as it dripped blood onto the ground below. She shuddered to herself as she heard the body hit the ground with a thump and she shook her head side to side to clear her head. She paid no mind to the puff of smoke that soon echoed through the forest.

After a few moments of consideration, she put the head to the side and turned the headless body onto its back. She slowly dug through his outfit, pulling out an orange book, which she recognized instantly as the one Hiruzen had in his possession and threw it into the fire quickly. The next was a dark red book with a single red piece of paper sticking out of the top. She quickly opened it with a frown, going straight towards the bookmarked page, where she saw the face of the man she had just killed printed on the paper.

"Geez, what an ego..." She muttered to herself, noticing the bounty of 10,000 yen printed in bold letters under his picture, letting her know exactly what she had just came across, 'The Drunk Bandit, Beltaru.' "A bingo book... and the idiot marked himself in it to show off..." She rolled her eyes at the thought, flipping through the pages slowly. There were many men and women listed in the book, some of which were high class Ninja, such as Kakashi Hatake from Konoha, but those numbers were very few.

She hummed softly, trying to recall her lessons on the 'Bingo Book' that she got from Hiruzen during her private lessons. _'Normally, the bingo books are black... but those are for shinobi villages, to track missing-nin and for other villages to put bounties on famous Ninja... But this one is red and seems to cover more basic bandits.'_ The man she had just killed was rather low on the bounty list, but not the lowest. Petty thieves had a small bounty, but there was no 'Dead or Alive' tag signed on them, unlike on the man she just killed.

Keeping a 'bounty head' alive also didn't give more money, unlike the black bingo books. _'Probably because bandits don't have any real information on them, unlike Ninja.'_ Naruto mused to herself and began to flip through a few pages before shrugging her shoulders, not seeing anything that caught her eye. "Well, I guess I'll turn you in then..." She muttered, grabbing the head off the ground and his sword soon after.

Without another word, she turned and left, leaving the body behind for the animals to devour.

* * *

It had been surprisingly easy to turn in the bounty in the next town, although Naruto knew she would have to find another way to carry a head around if this was going to be a habit. She was getting far too many strange looks, and fearful ones, just walking through town.

Now, however, she was quietly counting her money and hummed to herself as she stared at the cash. _'That was pretty easy, and I do have a book that lists the most common areas these guys are in... I need supplies to keep living so...'_ She frowned to herself, looking to the katana which now rested on her hip, as it had on its previous owner.

As if to answer her thoughts, a bright light shined on the blade and caused a small emerald embedded in the hilt to glow. Naruto nodded her head as she turned her gaze away from the blade as thin flesh colored ropes began to draw the blade into her body as she left the town.

 _'I'll be... a bounty hunter.'_

* * *

 _ **Chapter END!**_

 _ **For some reason several paragraphs were tabbed, like this one for example. Not sure what the deal was with that, past me. Was a pain to fix. (*Post Upload Edit: Wow, apparently the Doc Manager deletes tabbed paragraphs regardless. So fixing that was absolutely pointless. Good thing past me did it. That guy deserved it.)**_

 _ **But anyways, that's the first chapter of Bounty Hunter! As you can already tell, it's full of cliches and rather annoying ideals that I don't really like doing anymore. Mizuki, for example, is one my favorites for my main story and I'm a bit upset at my past self for making him out to be the stereotypical villain he was in canon. But hey, at least he died properly this time, instead of being subjected to filler. Poor Tsubaki.**_

 _ **Some of the loose ends, especially Naruto's past, are touched on in the last two chapters, but I never brought myself to fully exploring them since I dropped the story rather early in development. From what I recall, the main reason was simply a lack of real conflict beyond canon stuff and a lot of junk I'd have to make up.**_

 _ **Constant world building is tiring and that's probably why I dropped it.**_

 _ **Anyways! Look forward to the next chapter in a bit and if you enjoyed Oracle of Nemesis, check out my profile or follow me on it to see when I toss the story up. I'll probably toss the 3rd chapter of this little story up once Nemesis is ready, for anyone that doesn't want to do that.**_

 _ **Hope you enjoyed and maybe got some inspiration from it! That's kind of my main reason for putting this "collection" out there, by the by. I've been inspired by so many stories that I'd love to hear about inspiring someone myself...**_

 _ **Does that make me shallow? Weird? I dunno. Either way, hope someone got something out of this!**_


	10. Bounty Hunter (Ch2)

**_Welcome to the 2_ _nd_ _chapter of Bounty Hunter! Admittedly, it's around this point that I actually started getting kinda 'meh' with the idea, mostly due to my lack of planning back then._**

 _ **Anywho, not much to talk about right now. Hope you enjoy.**_

 **Fourteen years after the Kyuubi attack (Officially 'Canon' time)**

* * *

Gato, founder of the Gato Company, was a very busy man. The short man in his black suit, with his eyes being hidden by black sunglasses, felt no remorse as he placed his seal of approval on another parchment that allowed even more money to be taken from his current seat of power: The Land of Waves. The man had taken over the land's shipping routes and created a monopoly by isolating the country completely, keeping all visitors out and keeping any would-be saviors out as well.

Those on the inside... were demoralized. Those who stood against him were murdered and made into public displays of Gato's wrath, such as stringing them up and chopping their heads off in front of everyone. It was no doubt that he was an awful, awful man... But he was a man with protection.

Hundreds of armed men were under his command, and one of which was a powerful missing-nin of the Village Hidden in the Mist and member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist: Zabuza Momochi. The man was easily his biggest investment, due to his power and the very aura he carried around him.

It was a sound job to grab Zabuza to make sure Gato secured his place in Wave, but now the man was beginning to reconsider his investment in Zabuza's talents. Not only had the missing-nin came back nearly dead, but he had came back stating that he had been unable to kill the only man who still went against Gato, a man he could, officially, do nothing about.

Tazuna the Bridge Builder was Wave's last hope, due to a large bridge that had been under construction before Gato became a presence in Wave. The bridge was a definite wrench in Gato's plans, but he was unable to do much about it, officially. While the Ninja villages and Samurai around wouldn't ever hear about him stringing people up for executions, they would no doubt hear and see the explosion of a large bridge, should Gato try to destroy it.

If it wasn't finished, however, they would pay it no mind, and thus no word of Gato's power would exit the village. If he had his way, he would have all of his men charge Tazuna and aim to kill the man, but Gato was no fool. He was always guarded by two of his strongest men, Zori and Waraji, both powerful swordsmen in their own right.

They were nothing compared to Zabuza, of course, but what man can be compared to a Ninja?

Gato knew, however, that without the men around him that he would most likely be assassinated by people looking to take his position, or by those that put a bounty on his head in the underworld that he was part of. His drug dealing, along with his smuggling of illegal materials and information, brought a lot of attention to his underworld identity.

So, along side his two body guards, were his hundreds of men that all settled in the main building he had taken over upon his entry to Wave. The building was a large square shape with very tall walls that kept anyone from getting inside. There were no windows, and only three ways in.

One was a large wooden gate on the front of the building that had wooden boards placed on the inside to keep it from opening without consent from the inside. The other was a wooden door on the very top of the building, which had a similar build as the gate, and the last was a small dock in the back that led to a large ship that he used for his own personal transportation, along with any men he brought along as protection.

That said, Gato was wondering if he even needed to stay in the village for much longer. While his insurance in Wave did help his business a lot, it was beginning to look like he could not rely on the men he hired. If Zabuza was bested by a group of weak Konoha Nin, then it may be time to move on...

Then again, Zabuza had demanded another chance to fight them, so maybe it could work out in his favor. The swordsman was asking for far too much money anyways...

Gato's musings were brought to halt as his door snapped open, causing Zori and Waraji to instantly grab their blades while Gato simply looked up. There was a panting brown haired man at his door, and while Gato wasn't one to usually remember the faces of his mercenaries, he did recognize the boy as one of the many he hired. Mostly due to a golden G on the left side of his dark red kimono, placed there by Gato himself.

The boy was instantly shouting as he entered the room, though he did pant as it was evident he had to run quite a way to get to Gato's office, "Someone is attacking us, Gato-San! Some black clad woman..." Gato frowned as the boy panted, gripping his chest. It was only then he noticed the deep red cut across the boy's chest. Despite his wound, he continued to speak, "She … I believe it's the bounty hunter, Gato-San. She took out five men with just a katana, I barely escaped... She's on her way here now."

Gato rubbed his chin thoughtfully and nodded, sighing. "Alright, get yourself treated. I'll put more guards up. Damned bounty hunter can't take the whole force." The boy nodded his consent, starting to walk away when Gato turned his head towards Zori on his left, and the gray hair man smirked slightly as he saw Gato's expression.

"Got it, boss." Zori stated simply, exiting the room quickly and heading in the same direction the boy had went. Gato shook his head as a scream echoed through the hallway and he turned his gaze towards Waraji.

"Come on, get a few men out front. I know exactly which hunter he's talking about... I never thought she'd come after my head." Gato huffed softly as he stood up from his desk, slowly walking towards the front door after grabbing his black cane while Waraji walked beside him, his eyes darting side to side.

A few moments later, the two were standing on the roof, looking down at where most of Gato's men had already assembled in front of the building, due to Waraji making a call over the intercom as they walked. Gato grunted in annoyance at the sight that greeted him, as at least ten of the men were already on the ground while a black clad woman stood in front of them.

She was dressed completely in black from her neck to her feet, and it was impossible to tell if it was all one suit or multiple pieces of clothing. It also drew more attention to her bright blue eyes that stared at them coldly, looking like pieces of ice, while her bright blonde hair hung behind her back in a loose ponytail. The bottom of her face was covered with a black mask, stopping just below her nose.

Her body shape was well toned, though even Gato couldn't tell how old she was. Her breasts weren't very large, but she was rather tall, probably around 5'9 if he was any judge. He was sure she was at least in her teens, if not her twenties, but that hardly mattered right now. He glanced at the long katana in her right hand, the white blade being tinted red from the blood dripping off it, before speaking.

"What do you want, Bounty Hunter?" Gato shouted, tapping his cane against the roof. "I have no bounty on my head, I am merely the owner of this shipping company." He knew it was a lie, and that the woman probably knew exactly who he was, but it didn't hurt to get a bit of information. "Why are you killing my workers?"

The woman stared up at him, ignoring the men beginning to surround her. Instead of responding, the woman jumped upwards towards Gato, her feet sticking to the wall of the building, causing Gato and many of the men to gasp in alarm, while the short man quickly began to retreat back on the roof. "A... A Ninja? Waraji!" He shouted and the dark skinned man moved in the way to intercept the blonde on her way up, pulling his katana off his hip.

Their blades met in mid air and Waraji grunted, glancing towards the woman's feet with a chuckle. "Not a Ninja, sir. Just a trick! Take this!" He shoved hard against her, causing her to grunt as her feet separated from the roof, revealing the thick needles on the bottom of her feet, seeming to come out of the black cloth she had covering them.

She fell quickly towards the ground, and the men quickly began to surround her, holding her down...

And moments later, she was tied up tightly by thick ropes in a large open room in Gato's building, many of the men from before lining the walls as the short, and fat, man stared down at the woman on her knees. He was holding her katana in his left hand, resting it over his shoulder as he grinned down at her. "So the big, bad bounty hunter falls to me... Hm..." He tilted his head slightly and grinned, digging through the pockets of his suit before pulling out a small green vile. "You're quite the looker, so I think I'll train you... to be a good hunter for me." He grinned, pulling at the woman's mask to push it down.

He blinked a few times in confusion behind his sunglasses, staring at the face he revealed... Or at least he would, had there not been a thin plate of steel across her mouth and cheeks, keeping him from getting at her mouth as he wanted. He grunted in annoyance and turned around, gesturing towards the men behind him. "Get some saw blades then, we'll get this metal right off her. Damned bitch..." He grunted in annoyance, but with his back to the woman, he never saw her slowly get to her feet...

Or the ropes fall off her arms.

There were cries of alarm as the woman's arm pushed itself through Gato's chest from behind. The man didn't even have time to cry out or turn his head as it was roughly chopped off by the woman's other arm, both arms being thick silver blades.

Gato's head began to fly into the air as the woman pulled her arm out of his chest, kicking him forward before catching the head as it fell with her now normal hand. The head disappeared in a poof a second later and the woman made a show of flicking her blood soaked hands to the side before pulling her mask back up.

The silence was deafening, and it was only broken as the woman grabbed her fallen katana and slid it slowly out of its sheath. "If you wish to join him on the ground, then come at me. Otherwise, leave." The woman stated, speaking up for the first time. Her voice was soft and clam, but the whole room could hear it as if she was speaking straight into her ears.

It took a moment for the men to register her words, but some were quickly scrambling for the door while the more loyal and angry mercenaries charged at her. The first came from her left, slicing at her neck with his blade, only for his blade to be knocked up by her sword and sent flying to the side. The man soon followed it after a harsh kick to the side sent him flying.

With her leg still extended from the kick, another mercenary tried to take advantage of her position and slice right at her leg. Again, her blade blocked it and pushed him back, her foot slamming against the ground as she put pressure on it to shove the man backwards towards the others behind him.

Spinning, she grabbed a man's wrist just as he was about to grip her hair and she twisted it painfully to the side, making him cry out in pain before her sword flashed forward, slicing his head clean off and onto the ground below. Her blade continued its arc, slicing through the shoulder of another man as he attempted to attack her and his head soon joined his companion's on the ground as his body stumbled back from the strike.

The remaining men, which totaled to around fifteen, all shuffled nervously as they stared at the girl who easily dispatched their comrades. Her icy gaze slowly turned towards them, sliding over each one before resting on the only man who made no move at all, a tall muscular man with the lower half of his face covered in bandages, much like her mask covered her own face.

He said nothing but he grinned under his mask, leaning against the wall next to the door. He hadn't been there originally, but had slipped in just in time to see Gato's head be chopped clean off. He glanced at the men in the room and the blonde woman seemed to understand his unspoken message.

They would speak when the trash was taken care of.

The woman flicked her blade to the side, sending blood along the ground as she stared at the remaining mercenaries. "I will not ask again. Leave, or I will collect your head as well." A few men shuffled and one bold man charged forward, yelling as he swung his blade towards her stomach.

It was rather surprising for all those present as the blade bounced off uselessly and the man seemed to shake as his blade slowly fell to the ground, having snapped from hitting her with so much force. With a flick of her wrist, the man's head was sent flying and blood sprayed out of his neck, dripping down onto the woman's head and dripping slowly down her face.

The rest of the men quickly hurried out of the room and the blonde sighed, flicking her blade to the side while the blood on her body and outfit seemed to slowly be absorbed into her skin. She slid her blade into its sheath and strapped it onto her back, looking towards the last remaining man who stayed by the door with his arms crossed.

"Momochi Zabuza, I assume. Missing-nin of the Kirigakure and holder of one of the seven heavenly blades. Five hundred million bounty." Zabuza grinned at her words and chuckled softly, starting to slowly stand up straight, though it was clear even to her that it was a slight struggle. It seemed he was heavily damaged.

Despite the damage, the tall man that stood in front of her was giving her a gaze that would make most men hide behind their mothers, but she returned the gaze calmly. After a few moments, he slowly spoke, "You cost me a bit of money by killing him... Why shouldn't I just kill you now?" She sighed softly and shook her head, staring up at him.

"I have no reason to fight you, Zabuza-San. Even though you are harmed, I have no doubt I would lose the fight, but I could escape." He grunted slightly at her words and she bowed her head, "However, I have been searching for someone like you. I wish to ask you to train me."

They stood there for a few moments before Zabuza let out a low chuckle, crossing his arms over his chest. "And why would I do that..? You seem to have a good handle on swordsmanship already. I'm pretty interested in who taught you to fight like that."

"No one taught me." She admitted, shaking her head, "I learned by fighting other swordsmen. One in particular, a samurai from the Land of Steel. We fought for five days and I was able to copy down a majority of his style, although I have changed it considerably." Zabuza's thin eyebrows rose from her words and he hummed softly.

"I wasn't aware Samurai had bounties, little hunter." She nodded her head slightly and sighed.

"It was a mistake on both our parts. I was lucky he allowed me to live, although neither of us were really able to move after the fifth day." She waved her hand dismissively, "At any rate, I am willing to pay you considerably well if you agree to teach me. The bounties on the men here are yours, along with Gato's underground bounty which is around six million." Zabuza rubbed his chin thoughtfully, considering her words.

"Mm... What is stopping me from taking those heads for myself?"

The woman held her hand up, the cloth surrounding her palm separating to reveal the black seal printed across her skin. "I have Gato's head sealed inside my hand, and only I know how to access the seal. Not only that, but you're a wanted man yourself. I am welcome to turn in many bounties... Sometimes with interest, since the heads are always in tact." Zabuza nodded slightly at her words, grinning under his bandages.

"You're a crafty little brat, aren't you? What's your name? And what village do you come from? Someone with that much chakra can't be just a bounty hunter." His grin grew as she seemed to shuffle nervously, but her calm gaze returned soon after.

The woman frowned under her mask, which was only indicated by the slight twitch underneath the cloth, before she spoke. "I have no affiliation with any village. I am simply a bounty hunter. My name... is Hiiro ( _Scarlet)._ It's a pleasure to meet you." She bowed respectfully, placing her hands on her sides, and Zabuza chuckled softly at her.

"No affiliation, huh? Well, Hiiro, I'll require the money up front if you want me to teach you. You did cost me a lot, after all." Hiiro nodded her head in response, looking around the room.

"It's likely you can find some money in here as well, although I would not know where. I do have another question, if you don't mind me asking, Zabuza-San." He stared at her blankly as she began to seal the multiple heads on the ground into her hands, not bothering to interrupt as she spoke. "The first thing I must ask is if you're aware of the one behind the door." A soft _tap_ was heard as she spoke, and a short black haired boy, or girl?, walked into the room, his face covered by the mask of a Kiri hunter nin.

Zabuza didn't even bother turning his head,"I'm well aware. This is Haku. He is my tool." Hiiro let out a soft 'Hm' at his words, sealing the last head into her palm before she allowed her glove to slowly reform.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Haku." Haku inclined his head, but did not speak as Hiiro began moving towards the door. "I also wish to know where Tazuna the Bridge Builder lives. I was instructed to inform him of Gato's demise." Zabuza arched his eyebrows again, watching the girl stand in front of the door while she waited for his answer.

"Near the entrance to the village, I believe. I assume you have business with those Konoha Nin, then?" Hiiro, who had been walking out the door after he answered, hesitated mid step before responding.

"No, I was not aware they were present. That... may complicate things. I will see you soon with the money, Zabuza-San." With that, she turned the corner and disappeared from sight, though not before Zabuza called out to her,

"Tell Kakashi I won't be there for a rematch just yet." He had no idea if she would, but he knew she heard him. He chuckled to himself as he heard the snap of a door closing in the distance.

Haku frowned under his mask but slowly removed it from his face, turning towards his master with a worried expression, "Are you sure we can trust her, Zabuza-Sama? I did not feel any bad intentions from her, but... she is clearly more than she says." Zabuza grunted slightly and let out a soft chuckle, shaking his head.

"No, we can trust her for now. I saw what she did to Gato with her arms... But I also know her reputation. She follows a code of honor... But enough, we need to pick this place dry. Probably a lot of money in that pig's office." The tall man quickly exited the room and Haku soon followed, leaving the bodies of Hiiro's victims to rot in the room behind them.

* * *

Hiiro sighed to herself as she stared at the dark brown wood of the door in front of her. It had taken a few tries to find the right house, though the villagers were kind enough to point her in the 'right' direction... which turned out to be another false lead. It seemed most of them didn't enjoy being woken up or bothered at such a dark hour.

Thankfully the children were much easier to talk to, especially after giving them a few pieces of candy and money from her personal stash. It seemed they were much more honest as well, as the directions she obtained led her right to Tazuna's house... Which she knew by looking through the window, seeing the man sitting at a table.

The problem was who _else_ she saw, four Ninja from Konoha. A pink haired girl, whom she did not recognize, a black haired boy that was clearly Sasuke Uchiha, if her book was correct... and the last one was Hinata Hyuuga, heiress to the Hyuuga clan. The biggest problem was their Jounin instructor, Kakashi Hatake, who would no doubt be irritating with questions.

She shook her head slightly and sighed again, pulling her hand up and knocking slowly on the door. _'Better get it over with.'_ She thought to herself, placing her arms to her sides with her right hand resting on the hilt of her katana.

"I'll get it." Someone called out and a dark blue haired woman stood at the door way nervously, staring at Hiiro with her light brown eyes. "Yes..? How may I help you?" She muttered respectfully, seeming intimidated by Hiiro's presence.

"Good evening, madam." Hiiro stated, bowing her head respectfully, something that the woman returned, "I wish to speak to Tazuna, if he is in. I will leave my blade by the door if you would rather I not bring it in." The woman blinked a few times and squirmed, not seeming sure how to answer.

"Um... One moment." The door closed and Hiiro sighed, sliding her sheath from the loop on her hip and placing the sword beside the door's frame. A few moments later, the door opened up, but instead of the woman there was a tall white haired man that stared down at her with his one eye, while the other was hidden by his Konoha headband.

"Kakashi Hatake of the Sharingan Eye. Jounin of Konoha and wielder of over a thousand Jutsu. One billion bounty." Hiiro muttered out of habit, though her words seemed to reach Kakashi's ears and he smiled at her with his eye closing.

"Hiiro the Bounty Hunter, wielder of many blades and the only Bounty Hunter of the Honor Squad." The man retorted, his smile growing under his mask as her eye twitched. "No official bounty, but..."

"But unofficially I have a bounty of seven hundred million." She finished, waving her hand dismissively. "Rumors, nothing more. Now that we are acquainted, I would like to speak with Tazuna. It is a matter of importance." Kakashi hummed softly and slowly nodded, pointing at the blade resting beside the door frame.

"You can bring that too. I doubt you're here to take his head." Hiiro nodded, sliding the sheath back into in her loop on her belt.

"Thank you, I did not wish for it to be stolen. It has been with me in many battles." Kakashi smiled and nodded, moving out of Hiiro's way. She nodded her thanks and walked into the home, sighing to herself as everyone stared at her while Kakashi closed the door and leaned beside the frame as Hiiro walked up to the large table that most of them were sitting at.

Hiiro kept her gaze away from the Genin at the table, though she glanced at Sasuke who stared at her with his onyx eyes, seeming to measure her up as she bowed towards Tazuna, who sat opposite of her on the long side of the table. "Hello, Tazuna-San. I apologize for intruding, but I was asked to inform you of my latest hunt." Tazuna frowned, looking rather nervous as he shuffled in his seat.

"Who … uh..." He stumbled a bit for his words and squirmed a few more times in his seat before he spoke, "Who did that? And … hunt for what? Who are you?" Hiiro nodded her head and bowed again, keeping her head bowed as she spoke.

"I am Hiiro, a bounty hunter. I am here on the request of the late Kaiza." Tazuna's eyes widened and Tsunami, the dark haired woman from before, flinched at the sound of the name. The young brown hair boy wearing a white cap said nothing, but lowered his head. Hiiro stayed silent for a few moments before she continued, "It was requested that if a certain bounty was completed, this family was to be informed."

"A certain bounty..?" Tsunami muttered, her eyes slowly widening as her mind raced with the possibilities. "You mean you..?"

Without a word, Hiiro held her left hand up and with a loud thump and a poof of smoke, Gato's head appeared on the table, causing Tsunami and the pink haired Genin to scream in surprise, while the men and Hinata stared in shock. Gato's face stared up Tazuna with a horrified expression on his face, while Tazuna's face slowly fell into disbelief.

"Y.. You... You killed Gato? Our nightmare is over?" Tazuna muttered, tears slowly brimming in his eyes, "Th.. This isn't a trick, is it? I'm not dreaming?" Hiiro shook her head, placing her hand on top of Gato's head.

"Not a trick, I assure you. I apologize that I won't be able to let you keep his head, as I need it for payment. I hope that you are satisfied with this news?" She tilted her head as Tazuna laughed, tears going down his cheeks as he leaned back in his chair.

It took a few moments for him to calm down and he smiled sadly at his daughter, who was sobbing openly into her palms. He turned his gaze back towards the blonde woman and smiled gratefully, surprisingly grasping her hands together. The action seemed to shock her but she did not pull back, "Thank you, thank you so much. It means so much that Gato is dead... Please, if there's anything we can..." He paused as Hiiro shook her head, pulling her hands away from him.

"No, I require no payment except for the bounty on his head. I was merely instructed to inform you, not take payment from you." Tazuna smiled at her words and nodded his head.

"Still, I can't thank you enough... You're always welcome here if you need somewhere to stay." Hiiro smiled and nodded her head slightly as Tazuna stood up, grinning. "I have to tell the whole village!" He yelled, already moving towards the door as Hiiro spoke up.

"Ah, many of his mercenaries are still about. I would suggest keeping an eye out for them. You may want to go with an escort of some sort." Tazuna nodded, looking towards Kakashi with a grin.

"Can you come with me, Kakashi-San? I'd really like to inform the village as fast as possible." Kakashi hummed, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he stared towards the window.

"Perhaps tomorrow. There's little day light left, and most of the village may be sleeping already. It'd be wise to make sure none of the mercenaries come here for revenge too." Tazuna visibly deflated from his words, groaning slightly.

"You're right... Sorry." He muttered, rubbing the back of his head.

"If that's all then, I'd like to bid you all good night." Hiiro stated pulling the head of Gato up and letting it disappear into the seal on her hand. Tazuna nodded and smiled at her while Kakashi hummed softly, not commenting as Hiiro moved towards the door, opening it and stepping outside.

It wasn't long before she heard footsteps behind her and she sighed, looking behind her into the onyx eyes of Sasuke Uchiha. The pink haired girl was standing behind him, looking confused, while Kakashi stood at the door frame, having a bored expression on his face, though she could tell from his body language that he was slightly annoyed. The Hyuuga and Tazuna's family were no where to be seen, though she was sure the Hyuuga was watching through the wall.

"May I help you, Sasuke Uchiha?" Hiiro turned towards him as he spoke, resting her hand on her blade as he smirked, seeming rather confident. His posture also reeked of arrogance, with his hands in his pockets and his body slouched forward slightly, as if he was ready to dash forward and attack at any moment.

"So you have heard of me." The boy stated simply, rather than answering her question.

"Only _of_ you, yes." With a flick of her wrist, the woman summoned a black book to her hand, staring at it as she spoke while opening it to the page with Sasuke's younger face printed on it. "Sasuke Uchiha, one million bounty if caught alive. Last Uchiha loyal to Konoha, brother of the mass murderer Itachi Uchiha." Sasuke's face fell into anger at the mention of his brother and a low growl escaped him, his arrogance forgotten.

"Don't mention that man to me..." He growled out, but the girl simply flipped a page in her book, ignoring his anger.

"Itachi Uchiha, destroyer of the Uchiha Clan, missing-nin of Konoha. Only known owner of the Mangekyo Sharingan, current location unknown. Fifty billion bounty." Her head tilted to the side as a kunai flew past her head, and she let out a soft sigh as she closed her book. "I will ask again, may I help you, Sasuke Uchiha? I will not forgive another attack."

Sasuke growled in annoyance, his onyx eyes flashing as he stared at the woman. Slowly, he released a breath, seeming to relieve himself of his anger, though he continued to glare at her, "I want to know how you did that.. killed that man." She stared at him and shrugged her shoulders slowly.

"I chopped his head off, how else?" She sighed, shaking her head slightly as her gaze went to Kakashi by the door, "What are they teaching in the academy these days?" Kakashi just smiled at her while Sasuke growled louder.

"Stop ignoring me and treating me like a child..! Come! Fight me!" The Uchiha called out, sliding into his fighting stance. He growled as he felt Kakashi's hand on his shoulder while the woman regarded him calmly from her position.

"Sasuke, this woman is far beyond you. Even I would have a hard time against someone like this." Kakashi admitted, causing the pink haired girl beside him to look up in wonder and back towards Hiiro with wide eyes. His words just seemed to irritate Sasuke further and he squeezed the boy's shoulders, "I don't know what got into you, but I won't let you throw your life away."

A soft scoff brought Kakashi's gaze from Sasuke to Hiiro, as the girl shook her head, "You believe I would kill him? Know this, Hatake Kakashi, I only kill those who I deem wicked enough to fall at my feet. This boy, while childish, has done no evil in my eyes." Her words seemed to make Kakashi smile under his mask and he inclined his head respectfully.

"I understand, I apologize for the insult, Hiiro." The girl waved her hand dismissively as she walked towards the group, her fingers drumming the hilt of her blade.

"No harm done. Now, Sasuke, if you wish for a light fight, then I will give you one. But first I must ask... what you are wishing to prove by fighting me?" She turned her icy gaze onto the boy, who returned the stare evenly, though he was slightly irked that he had to look up to meet her eyes.

"I need to test my strength... If you're strong enough to take out someone like that, then if I beat you, I'll know I'm closer to killing Itachi." His words were said with confidence, as if he thought he was right, but Hiiro just stared at him blankly while Kakashi's hand slowly let go of his shoulder as he sighed.

Hiiro tilted her head slowly to the side, her gaze becoming colder as she stared at him. "An Avenger's path, then... Foolish." She sighed as Sasuke bristled, growling angrily at her as she took three steps back. "Your path will only make another Itachi Uchiha."

"I'm nothing like him!" Sasuke shouted, his eyes wide with anger as he charged forward, ignoring Sakura's cry of surprise as he shot forward. He barely made it within arms reach before he was sent hard to the ground. Hiiro's left hand was gripping his wrist tightly while the other had pushed its palm into Sasuke's chest, forcing him onto his back.

The boy helplessly struggled against the grip and attempted to punch her with his free hand, only for his fist to be easily slapped away. She lifted the same hand that pushed him down up and slammed her fist into his stomach, causing him to cough violently as she pulled back.

She sighed as she stood and she stared down at him with her head shaking slowly, "You are no doubt talented. If I let that hit connect, I would have been lost in your combination. But you are slow, I would suggest working on your speed next." She took a small jump back, allowing Sasuke to get onto his feet.

She waited as he panted and coughed, glaring angrily at her, though her eyes widened slightly as he suddenly lifted his hand to his mouth, creating a massive fire ball that flew towards her quickly while tearing the ground up as it traveled. Sakura let out a loud gasp as she saw it, and Kakashi was visibly alarmed as he stared at the fire ball.

"S.. Sasuke-Kun! T.. that... Isn't that a bit much!?" Sakura yelled, while Sasuke just huffed, leaning up slowly as he stared at the fireball as it reached the blonde who disappeared from their vision as the flames moved.

Sasuke, ignoring Sakura's alarm, just sighed as he slid his hands into his pockets once more, "If she can only take that much, then..." His words were cut off as a blur shot through the flames and slammed into him, sending him flying back into Kakashi who took the blow without flinching, allowing Sasuke to slide to the ground off him.

Sasuke gasped for breath, staring up in alarm with his left hand resting on his stomach. "H.. How did you..?" He gasped out, staring up at Hiiro who sighed softly, her arm extended in a punch with her body straightening up as the flames began to die down behind her, due to the chakra running out.

"Rather simple, but I have no reason to explain it to you." She stated simply, standing in front of him without a single hair out of place or a burn mark on her body. She turned around again, resting her hand on the blade beside her as she walked towards the burn mark on the ground. "Your flames are cold, Sasuke Uchiha. They had better burn brighter the next time we meet... Or I won't hold back." She turned her head towards him slowly and Sasuke flinched as killing intent rolled over his form...

...and for a brief moment, he saw her blade sliding through his head.

Then he was just watching her walk away, disappearing into the night, though she threw one last message over her shoulder before she disappeared, "Ah! And Kakashi-San? Zabuza said he will have a rematch with you in the far future." She didn't bother waiting for his response, or to see his frown, as she disappeared around a corner.

The three stood there silently for a moment, Sakura panting slightly as she stared up at Kakashi, her bright green eyes wide. "W... Who was that, Sensei?"

Kakashi glanced at her and sighed as he pulled Sasuke to his feet, shaking his head slowly. "That was Hiiro, or so it would seem. Possibly one of the youngest people in the world to get a bounty over five hundred million, though she's protected by the Bounty Hunter Association, which means her real bounty... is much, much higher than that." He began to lead Sasuke inside with little resistance as the boy trembled against him, seeming to have gone into a slight case of shock.

He seemed to regain himself as the light of Tazuna's living room hit his eyes and he jerked his hand away from Kakashi, huffing slightly as he sat down on one of the many wooden chairs. Tazuna and his family were no where to be seen, possibly upstairs asleep or celebrating. Hinata was also gone, though Kakashi paid it no mind as he assumed she was watching over Tazuna, as she had been on duty.

Sakura took a seat beside Sasuke, squirming slightly as she glanced at him with worry as the boy held his head with one hand. She knew her concern would go unnoticed, so she turned her gaze back to Kakashi as he leaned against the wall near the stairs. "Erm... What is the Bounty Hunter Association, Sensei? I've never heard of them." Kakashi smiled at her and nodded his head slightly.

"No reason why you should have. They're nothing that you'd find in a text book. But..." He hummed softly, tapping his fingers against his arm as he crossed them. "The Bounty Hunter Association, or BHA for short, is a group that is officially its own hunting squad for anyone with a bounty on their head. They're also able to shield their members from having a bounty, meaning anyone that actually kills them wouldn't get any money from them. They hold about... seventy percent of the bounty money as well, so it's not uncommon for the hunted to leave their members alive instead of bothering to kill them. Doing so would just raise their bounty anyways." Kakashi shrugged his shoulders and sighed as Sasuke looked up, his eyes showing his anger at being defeated so easily.

"So what about _her_?" Sasuke spat out, saying _her_ like it was a disease. Kakashi shrugged his shoulders a bit and turned his head to the side, looking towards the darkened window.

"What do you want to know? I'll admit, I don't know that much." Kakashi muttered, knowing Sasuke would brood over his defeat even more if he didn't answer his questions.

Sasuke was silent for a moment as he considered his question before he just sighed, crossing his arms, "Just tell me everything you know about her." Kakashi rolled his eye slightly and sighed.

"Alright... She's the youngest bounty hunter known, being about... Fourteen or sixteen." The two Genin stared at him with wide eyes, but didn't comment. Kakashi knew they were thinking about Hiiro not being that much older than them, since they were both around twelve. "Her abilities are mostly unknown, except that she always targets the neck like most bounty hunters when going for a kill and she's considered a decent swordsman. I believe there was a tale of her fighting a samurai in the Land of Steel for five days."

"Five days!?" Sakura shouted, her eyes wide. "They fought for five days!?" Sasuke also seemed surprised at the news. He had trained for days on end, but even he couldn't imagine fighting someone for five days straight.

Kakashi nodded slightly and shrugged. "That fight isn't what got the Association's attention, though. I doubt you have heard of them, but there was a very elite group of bandits all under the leadership of an ex-Kumo Nin that had the strength to rival the Raikage at the time. It was over two hundred men and at least seventy of them were considered to have the strength of a Jounin..." Kakashi closed his eye and sighed softly against his mask as he spoke up again, "They took over a fortress between the Hidden Frost Village and the Hidden Hot Springs Village. About three weeks after that, they were all found dead in the middle of the fortress and all of their heads were turned into the Bounty Hunter Association by Hiiro herself."

Sasuke and Sakura stared at him with their mouths agape, although Sasuke was struggling to keep his mouth closed, and he seemed to pale slightly as he realized how vast the power difference was between him and her. He was hungry for the power to defeat Itachi, but even he would admit he couldn't take on _that_ many people.

Kakashi suddenly held his hands up, keeping his eye closed, though he faced them as if it was open. "I don't know the story, so don't ask me. Hiiro is probably the only one that knows, though I doubt she'd tell you. What I do know is her title is Hiiro because of the amount of blood coating her body when she turned that specific bounty in. The only thing not red on her was those eyes of hers." The group was silent for another few moments before Sakura suddenly stood up, rubbing her head.

"I need to sleep... It's... too crazy for people like that to exist.." Kakashi just smiled at her with his eye closed, chuckling as he heard her foots go up the stairs. The Jounin turned his gaze down towards Sasuke, sighing softly as the boy seemed to be lost in his own thoughts.

"Sasuke, I'm sure there's a question you've been wanting to ask me since the fight with Zabuza." Sasuke's head jerked up at Kakashi's words and he slowly nodded, frowning as he looked towards the window, staring at his own reflection rather than the darkness outside.

"How do you have the Sharingan, Kakashi-Sensei?" Sasuke muttered, not bothering to look at the white haired man who sighed as he sat down on the ground, his back against the wall still. The idea that someone other than Itachi killed a member of his clan to obtain power... was the worst taboo, in Sasuke's book.

Training under someone similar to Itachi would be just as bad as learning from the man, after all.

Kakashi sighed slightly, though inwardly he was glad to get the topic off of Hiiro. _'Not that this topic is any more fun to go on about...'_ The silver-haired Ninja noted to himself as he cleared his throat. "Well, it all started back when the whole world was at war... and I was teamed up with Obito Uchiha..."

As Kakashi was just beginning to get into his tale, with Sasuke listening intently, neither of them bothered to check up stairs on the rest of the family... or their team. Thus, they completely missed Sakura yawning as she slid into the guest room, listening to the cheers of Tazuna in his own room. Sakura rolled her eyes slightly, but couldn't help but smile at the old man's attitude.

 _'Seems like they really didn't like that guy... I guess I can understand with what has happened around here.'_ As Sakura settled in, her eyes fell onto the large form of her last teammate, Hinata, already asleep in the bed in front of her with her back to the pink Kunoichi. _'Already asleep? That's rare, but I guess we did just get done with a big fight back in the forest.'_

Sakura didn't know much about the quiet teammate. While the girl had been the entire reason Kakashi passed the group, Hinata still didn't talk much. It was similar to Sasuke, yet different as Sasuke treated Sakura with indifference.

Hinata was more of a kind dismissal.

But the girl was very strong, enough that Sasuke himself acknowledged her strength and was willing to team up with her to take Kakashi on. The Jonin did pass the group because of this, but they had very little teamwork or friendship... and so none of them knew each others habits.

Which prevented Sakura from realizing that Hinata didn't sleep on her side, or that she would sleep at all when there was danger around. Nor did she even think that Hinata would not be there, so she failed to notice that the "head" of the girl she was looking at was just a pillow with a wig on top of it.

In the darkness of the night, Sakura questioned nothing... and simply fell asleep.

* * *

 _ **In the forest, near Tazuna's house...**_

Hiiro sighed as she pulled her mask down, revealing her blood red lips and slightly pale cheeks, instead of the steel cover Gato had revealed before. She sat on a fallen log inside the forest and mused over her situation.

Dealing with the Konoha Ninja had been troubling and left the girl feeling irritated that she wasted time dealing with the Uchiha. _'Dealing with spoiled brats is so annoying. If we meet again, I'm definitely not going to go easy on him if he keeps that attitude.'_ While _Scarlet_ did have a reputation to keep up in her honor, she also had to keep the reputation of being a blood thirsty killer...

At least if you pissed her off.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Hiiro preformed a single seal and shot out a puff of flame onto a small pile of sticks in front of her. As the sticks began to burn, Hiiro pulled the hilt of her Katana out of a large boar that she had killed before settling down. The beast had not put up much of a fight, but it was large enough to be a good snack for the bounty hunter.

 _'At least those people seemed happy Gato was gone... Can't say I blame them.'_ The blonde thought to herself as she cut off the boar's meat carefully and then held it over the fire with her sword. _'With him gone, it's possible this country will...'_ A presence near her suddenly cut off Hiiro's thoughts, but she made no outward indication that she felt someone nearby.

Casually biting into the cooked meat on her sword, Hiiro felt the presence grow closer and closer... and in an instant, Hiiro spun to meet the person behind her... only to blink a few times in surprise as she saw the face of Hinata Hyuuga a few feet from her.

Or what she assumed was the Hyuuga Heiress, as it was hard to tell with a large piece of boar meat slowly sliding down her face. It seemed that the boar meat had flew off when Hiiro swung her sword around, causing it to slam right into the dark haired girl's face, who clearly didn't expect such a move.

Hinata, with her eyes closed, coughed once before pulling the meat off. Thankfully it had little juice to it, so it didn't leave much of a mess. Her eye twitched slightly as she sighed, "I suppose that... that was my fault, for sneaking up on you..." Hiiro chuckled slightly before pulling her arm back and putting her katana into the ground beside her.

"Indeed it was. Hinata Hyuuga, two million bounty if caught alive. Wanted for three million by Kumogakure." Hinata sighed slightly at her words and Hiiro clicked her tongue slightly. "What can I do for you? I have no more business with Tazuna, if you were curious..." There was a curious tone to her voice, and face, but it fell into shock as Hinata slammed her fist into the tree nearest to her.

"Drop the act!" The Hyuuga snapped, her normally peaceful and kind face showing nothing but anger as her eyes narrowed and her teeth clinched together. "I know who you are. I know you know me. I..." She shuddered and lowered her head slowly, keeping her face from Hiiro's view. "I could recognize you anywhere... even if it has been four years. I recognize you..."

Hiiro was silent, her arms crossed over her chest as she stared at the woman with a frown on her face. It wasn't until Hinata's face lifted up, showing the tears going down her cheeks that Hiiro flinched. Hinata didn't even need to use her _Byakugan_ to see that the girl was chewing on the inside of her cheek either.

But the girl still didn't move or speak, prompting Hinata to take a step forward. "Please... Talk to me... Naruto." The heiress pleaded, clasping her hands together as she stood in front of the bounty hunter. Lavender eyes met sapphire as the two stared at each other for a long moment...

Until Hiiro chuckled, rubbing the back of her head slightly with her mouth turning into a large grin that Hinata knew all too well... "Ah... I guess you really can see right through me every time. Four years hasn't changed that, huh, Hinata?" "Hiiro" chuckled slightly, scratching her cheek now as she stared at the heiress, waiting for some kind of response.

But her only response was the slightly smaller girl suddenly slamming into her, making the two stumble back with Hiiro having to grab onto her sword to keep from falling over as Hinata buried her face into the woman's chest. "H.. Hey, Hinata..." The blonde started, only to jump slightly as she heard and _felt_ the girl against her begin to sob.

A slight smile coming to her face from the familiar situation, the blonde just ran her fingers through Hinata's hair as she held the sobbing girl close...

* * *

 _ **Chapter... End!**_

 _ **A bit of set up for things that were meant to come, but overall led to no where. Fun hints I forgot about until I got to doing my minor editing for this, like how I'm pretty much stating flat out that Naruto/Hiiro doesn't know how to walk up walls or anything. As a Ninja, her talents are few and far between. As an assassin, however...**_

 _ **Well, the implication of her taking on someone as strong as the Raikage is something I vaguely recall taking from another story, at least for the actual base idea. But instead of it being an actual arc that was hinted at every now and then, this one was actually flat out said to be killed. How? Assassination. That's what got the "Association" to look at Hiiro, though they were unaware she just assassinated all of them by turning into small things and running around. They've got no idea she didn't just fight them straight out.**_

 _ **Back to Hiiro herself; the reason she's in a rather stereotypical FemNaruto appearance is simply because she's under the impression that hiding in plain sight is the best method. Maybe it was. I don't recall.**_

 _ **Strength wise, there's a few things being tossed around, but not quite confirmed. Like Kakashi's comment on having a hard time with Hiiro. Not exactly**_ **un** ** _true, due to her unique abilities, but he wasn't really sure. Spoiler: Kakashi wouldn't be able to kill her, but he'd still be able to beat her in a straight fight. It would take a serious sneak attack for either of them to kill the other, though. Take that how you will._**

 _ **Next chapter will take a bit longer to come out and will be going hand-in-hand with the upload of Oracle of Nemesis. Anyone who enjoyed that story be sure to check it out, since it'll be coming with Chapter 4 as well. But the next chapter is the last of the unfinished Bounty Hunter series. Hopefully the chapters after that will still be enjoyable!**_

… _**and hopefully someone gets some inspiration from it. That's why I'm putting my ideas up, after all. 'Bout to run out, too, unless I start getting inspiration for ideas I won't finish again. Meh? Either way! Look forward to next chapter explaining that bit at the end.**_


End file.
